BENGALURU: Police are yet to make any headway in the death of 10-year-old Manya Damerla inside the
swimming pool
of
Prestige Lakeside Habitat apartment
near Varthur in the city's tech corridor. The cops are waiting for reports from the department of electrical inspectorate and the forensic science laboratory to ascertain the cause of death.
"Instead of speculating, we've decided to wait for the two reports to continue with the investigation," said a police officer, while pointing out that two different views have emerged from within the apartment residents' community: While one group feels she was electrocuted before falling into the pool, the others maintain she accidentally fell into the pool and drowned.
The body of the class V student was found in the pool Thursday night. She was shifted to a nearby hospital but Manya, the lone child of Rajesh Damerla and Vinaya from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, succumbed.
Damerla, a techie, filed a complaint with police, seeking an investigation into his daughter's death. "I was told that she drowned in the pool and shifted to hospital. When I reached the hospital, the doctors said her pulse was very weak. She died later," his complaint read.
The panicked residents had protested, stating that Manya was electrocuted and similar incidents of people receiving electric shocks in the pool were reported in the past.
Expected next week
Police sought a spot investigation and reports from sleuths of the electrical inspectorate on the alleged electrocution. On the other hand, viscera samples of the girl have been sent to the FSL to ascertain the cause of death. DCP (Whitefield) Shivakumar Gunare told STOI the electrical inspectorate's report is expected first. "They'll submit the reports on findings by next week. Based on their report, we'll decide the future course of action. Once we get the FSL report on the cause of death, our investigation will reach the final stage. By then, we'll be in a position to conclude the reason behind the death," the officer said.
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