Heart Attack Or Electrocution? Video Casts Shadow Over Official Claim In Nagpur Woman’s Death

Nagpur: A video that surfaced after the death of 60-year-old Afroz Begum Azim Khan has raised serious questions over police claim that she died of a heart attack, with fresh evidence pointing towards electrocution by a damaged live cable.

Adding weight to the electrocution theory, a senior MSEDCL official who snapped the power supply on the fateful night confirmed to TOI that the damaged cable was carrying live electricity at the time of the incident.The video footage, accessed by TOI, purportedly shows bystanders touching an electrical tester on Afroz Begum’s feet as her body lay in the waterlogged stretch for two hours. The tester is seen glowing red, indicating live electricity.

The video corroborates what several eyewitnesses maintained from the beginning — that the puddle was electrified after an underground streetlight cable was damaged during civic works months ago.

An MSEDCL official told TOI that “residents told the electrical inspector who visited the site that the tester glowed red when it touched Afroz’s body. We removed the entire cable the next day on NMC’s request, and the spot was cemented to allay fears of residents.”

However, removal of the cable before the statutory inspection has now triggered controversy. The electrical Inspector’s office admitted to TOI that the site should have been barricaded and preserved. “The cable should have remained in its original position after snapping the power supply. We instructed MSEDCL to preserve the removed cable for examination,” an official said.Residents also questioned why emergency responders kept the body lying in the water for nearly two hours and waited for MSEDCL to disconnect power before approaching it. “If it was only a heart attack, why did nobody touch the body? Why did Sakkardara police wait for MSEDCL to switch off the electricity before lifting her,” a resident asked.The hasty plastering of the site without preserving evidence raises uncomfortable questions about accountability and a possible attempt to hush up negligence in maintaining public infrastructure.