Three children were electrocuted by a circuit breaker in Greater Noida’s Sector Phi III Wednesday, in what police have termed a case of negligence. According to police, Rinku (13), Golu (9) and Sagar (9) were playing near the circuit breaker in the morning when the incident took place. Advertising Station House Officer, Kasna, Ajay Kumar, said all three were charred to death on the spot and were taken directly to the mortuary. “The three entered the Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) premises and somehow reached the spot where all wires are connected. It seems like they touched heavy-duty wires and were instantly electrocuted. Prima facie it looks like the company was negligent as the shutter, which blocks the entry to the circuit breaker room, was not closed all the way through. The children, it seems, crawled through the space at the bottom. Investigation is on,” said SSP, Gautam Budh Nagar, Vaibhav Krishna. Police were yet to register an FIR till late Wednesday night, as the parents of the children were at the mortuary, waiting for doctors to complete the post-mortem examination. NPCL will pay families of the victims Rs 5 lakh as compensation, according to the set guidelines, said Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate B N Singh. “An FIR will be registered as soon as we get the parents’ complaints,” SSP Krishna said. Advertising Hari Singh, Rinku’s older brother, told The Indian Express: “Around 9 am, two of Rinku’s friends came home and they all went out to play Holi. From what we have gathered after speaking to neighbours, no one saw them after 11 am. When people went looking for the boys, someone pointed them to the circuit breaker… their bodies were found around 3 pm.” Officials from NPCL admitted that the gate was open. “We have a maintenance schedule for all our sub-stations where each year, 50 sub-stations out of 400 are checked. This sub-station was in the schedule for the coming financial year. This is a very unfortunate incident. According to our findings, the children went in through the open gate and crawled in from below the partially open shutter. Once past the shutter, there are trenches the children must have crossed. On the front, there are control panels and the wires are at the back. The children must have reached the back and touched the wires. These wires carry a 11 KV current. Even our workers don’t enter the area in the absence of a shut down. The NPCL will pay for any hospital and cremation expenses. The compensation and insurance claims will also be transferred,” said Sarnath Ganguly, general manager, NPCL.

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