By Express News Service CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's electricity minister P Thangamani on Wednesday said his the department was not responsible for the recent deaths of two Chennai residents by electrocution. Amidst public outrage over the deaths, Thangamani held a press conference and said it was the fault of the city corporation in one case and in another on an accident involving a truck. On Sunday night, 14-year-old Dheena was electrocuted at Mugalivakkam when he stepped on a live wire from the street lights. On Monday, one Sethu Raj was killed when an electric pole collapsed and fell near him. These incidents are not happening for the first time. Downplaying the incidents, minister Thangamani said that Sethu Raj died because an electric pole was knocked down on him by a tree branch and not because the pole was in a bad condition. "When Tangedco officials inspected the spot, they found that the cement base of the pole was intact. This shows that the pole was in a good condition, bereft of any damage. When a truck rammed against a tree nearby, its brach fell on the overhead cable and in turn brought down the pole on the victim," said Thangamani, while addressing the reporters on Wednesday. Though residents claimed that they had raised a complaint to replace the electric pole in question, Thangamani said that they hadn't received any. "Three days ago, one other electric pole that was damaged was promptly replaced by officials after residents raised a complaint. If they had similarly registered a complaint about this pole, we would have replaced it," he added. Sethu Raj's wife in her police complaint said that her husband died as the post fell on him and mainly due to the negligence of officials. Residents alleged that this had been removed from the FIR filed by Chitalapakkam police. "They have registered a case only under section 174 (unnatural death). Section 304 which stands for the negligence of officials has been ignored. How can the police dilute a complaint," said a resident and member of Chitalapakkam Rising. A senior police officer said that only after an inquiry, a case will be registered under death due to negligence and now it has been only registered under section 174. “After the Minister’s statement on Wednesday, we are also probing into the case if the accident has happened because of the branch falling or because of the damaged electric pole. Only after a detailed inquiry we will know if this happened due to negligence,” said the senior police officer The first victim who died of electrocution was Dheena, a 14-year-old boy who lived in Mugalivakkam. On his way to a nearby petrol bunk along with a friend, Dheena stepped on a live wire which was not properly buried underground after being dug up by corporation officials. Referring to this incident, the minister said that the live wire which Dheena stepped on came from a street light maintained by the Chennai Corporation. "Such incidents happen mainly because internet companies place cables underground, dig the road and do not to patch it up. We are closely working with the Chennai Corporation to avoid such accidents in the future," he said. Thangamani further added that out of 62,688 poles erected by Tangedco, 2,238 will be replaced soon and also that an act will be soon passed which will ban sticking of posters on pillar boxes.

Stay updated with all the Chennai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.