Rural engg dept employee’s charred body found in office

LUCKNOW The charred body of a class IV employee was found in a room at the rural engineering department’s Lucknow region office under Ghazipur police station limits here on Wednesday morning, said police.

Initial probe hinted that the man died of electrocution due to short circuit in the room. The body was later charred as the short circuit also caused fire, said cops.

Jagdish Prasad, another employee of the department, said the deceased, Vikas Kumar Singh, 29, was on guard duty on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday at the office of superintendent engineer of the department’s Lucknow region.

Singh was sleeping in a room and had kept an electric heater on to keep himself warm. His body was found when other employees visited the office around 7am.

Prasad said the photocopy machine and other things in the office room were also completely burnt.

Sub-inspector Shiv Mangal Singh of Ghazipur police station said initial investigation suggested that the fire broke out after short circuit in the heater.

Circumstances suggested that the deceased first suffered electric shock after coming in the range of the heater and was later charred to death as he kept lying unconscious in the room when the fire broke.

The body had been sent for a post-mortem examination after information to his family members.