Contact with electric fence kills 2 brothers in Sanguem

Panaji: Brothers Rajendra and Mohandas Gaonkar, aged 40 and 46, died of electrocution in Rivona, Sanguem, on Wednesday after coming into contact with a live wire installed to keep animals away.After a preliminary investigation, police registered a case of unnatural deaths. After the postmortem examination, which is likely to be carried out on Friday, they will conduct further inquiry into the incident.Police received a call at around 11pm informing them about two persons found dead around 1km from their house.The brothers, who were farmers, left their home around 3pm on Wednesday and went into the forest area to collect grass for their cattle.

A tempo was found half-filled with grass.One of the men reportedly came in contact with the live wire installed on a private property in the area to keep animals away. Burn injuries were seen on the foot and back of one of the brothers, while the other one, who tried to rescue him, also got electrocuted. The heavy rain and waterlogged area could have contributed to their electrocution.Police rushed to the site, and an electricity department lineman then disconnected the power supply to the entire property.

“The electricity department had granted electrical connection to the private property for an agricultural pump, but this was misused and extended by the owner to create a fence to stop animals from entering,” an electricity department engineer said. “This is illegal. Solar fencing is permitted to keep animals away.

This neither harms humans nor animals, yet keeps animals away,” he said.Sanguem MLA and social welfare minister Subhash Phal Dessai said he went to the area around midnight after hearing about the incident. He said it was pouring heavily, and their deaths couldn’t immediately be established. He said one of the men suffered electrical burns on his hand and the other on his leg, and that one tried to rescue the other.He said the family members went out in search of them after they didn’t return home. They then saw the tempo and went deeper into the forest area to find them. They saw the wire at the border of the property that had caused the electrocution.