Pune father blames engineer for boy’s death

Four days after nine-and-half years old Salil Swapnesh died after getting buried under the debris of a landscape wall that caved in at Marvel Diva society near Magarpatta where he lives, the Hadapsar police has filed a case of causing death due to negligence against a site engineer working on the project.

The case was filed after Salil’s father, Swapnesh Ramchandran (43), lodged a first information report (FIR) at Hadapsar police station. No arrest has been made yet.

However, Vishwajeet Jhavar, director, Marvel Realtors said safety and security of residents was not compromised. “On January 26, a wall which was being constructed as part of a landscape kitchen platform, collapsed. We express our sincere condolences to the family. We are grieving with them and are here to provide them with all the necessary support. Marvel as a corporate has always placed the utmost priority on the safety and security of our residents. Currently our investigations are underway and we will keep you updated on the same,” he said.

In his FIR, Swapnesh said, “It was a holiday on January 26 and my sons went down to play at 4.30 pm. They were playing in the garden with seven to eight other children. I heard a sound around 5.30 pm and peeped out to find Salil crying for help. Seven to eight people had assembled at the place where the children were playing and a landscape wall which stood there had come down.

Somebody brought Salil to me. They were calling for an ambulance. When I asked what had happened, I was told the wall fell on Salil, trapping him under the debris. Salil told me he had pain in the chest.”

Swapnesh went on in his FIR, “I left to get my car but somebody else had already started his car and we took Salil to Nobel Hospital in that car. The doctors on duty examined him and said he had suffered fractures on his right leg below the knee and above the ankle. Since Salil had difficulty breathing, he was admitted to PICU and the treatment began. The doctors announced him dead around 11 pm. I did not lodge a complaint immediately because I was not in proper state of mind then.”
Swapnesh added in his FIR, “I now want to lodge a complaint that the landscape wall fell because the site engineer had constructed it without ensuring that it has adequate base. I hold the site engineer totally responsible for the incident and Salil’s death.

Therefore I am lodging this complaint against him.”
Salil lived on the third floor flat in Marvel Diva with his twin brother Sahil, father Swapnil and mother Sandhya. 

“We were playing football and Salil was the goalkeeper. Before we realised anything, the wall behind him fell and Salil got smashed beneath it,” said a playmate.

Senior police inspector, Pandharinath Mandhare of  Hadapsar police station told DNA, “After Swapnesh filed his FIR, we lodged a case under Indian Penal Code section 304 (A). The investigations are on.”