Umesh was supervising a repair work of a water pipeline just next to the railway tracks in Vasanthnagar.
Little did 39-year-old Umesh know that responding to a call on his mobile phone while on duty near the railway tracks in Vasanthnagar would prove fatal.
Umesh, assistant executive engineer of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), was knocked down by an oncoming goods train when he was deep in conversation on his phone and failed to realise the oncoming threat to his life.
The incident occurred at 10.45am on Saturday, 500 metres from Cantonment Railway Station.
Umesh, working with BWSSB High Grounds division, was supervising a repair work on a water pipe that had developed a crack and was leaking. Mir Arif Ali, deputy superintendent of police (railways), said the water pipeline is just next to the railway tracks in Vasanthnagar. Umesh was assigned the task of supervising the works and was accompanied by three other BWSSB employees to carry out the works.
He was in the midst of directing his workers about how the repair works need to be carried out when he received a call on his mobile phone. Engrossed in conversation, he strayed on to the railway tracks when the train mowed him down. Umesh even failed to notice his workers screaming and trying to alert him about the train coming from behind him.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. The body was handed over to his family after postmortem.
Last respects
The body was first taken to the BWSSB office, where his colleagues paid their last respects and then took the body to his residence in Katriguppe for final rites.
Cantonment police registered a case of unnatural death report as it happened accidentally despite BWSSB employees demanding that a case be registered against the railways.
Shivalinge Gowda, Umesh’s colleague, told DNA that Umesh was a very good officer. “He was a good officer with a very friendly nature, and was respected by his subordinates. I was not able to face his wife at the hospital. His kids are very small. They have lost their father at a very early age,” he said.
Another colleague, Muthyalappa, said all BWSSB employees who knew Umesh had nice things to say about him.
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