Pune: The Mahalunge MIDC police in Pimpri Chinchwad have registered a case against a private contractor for alleged negligence that led to the death of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl in 2022. She fell into a pit filled with water at an under-construction site in Nighoje village of Khed taluka around 3.30 pm on July 17, 2022. Police had initially registered an accidental death case as the family had decided not to lodge a complaint. “However, when we recently approached the girl’s family to inform them that we were going to file a closure report in court, her father said he wanted to lodge a case against the contractor, following which an FIR was registered on Thursday,” Nitin Gite, senior inspector of Mahalunge MIDC police station, told TOI.Workers had excavated a pit in the campus of an engineering firm, where construction was underway for a lift. The pit was left uncovered and filled with water. The girl, identified as Tapasi Sonu Sirwal, accidentally fell in while playing in the area, and drowned. Her father worked as a watchman at the site.A case was registered under section 304 (1) of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, against the contractor, who was responsible for the lift construction work. Police said the contractor failed to implement basic safety measures, such as barricading or covering the pit, which could have prevented the fatal accident. “We are investigating the matter further,” a police officer added.
