Wife identifies techie's body from tattoo

HYDERABAD: The body of city techie G. Ram Rajinikanth was found in a drain near Ibrahim Cheruvu on Monday, 1.5 km from the spot at Puppalguda where he fell into an under-construction stormwater drain on Saturday night at Sriramnagar, Puppalguda, in Manikonda municipality.

His wife Swapna recognised the body from a tattoo of her name on his arm.

The body was found in a diversion culvert adjacent to Ibrahim Cheruvu at 2.34 pm at EVV Colony, Neknampur; he had gone missing at 9.14 pm on Saturday. Rajnikanth is survived by his wife Swapna, 35, also a software engineer, and their two children Patheek, 9, and Rutheek, 7.

"Had the work been completed on time, Ranjikanth would not have died. No official is taking responsibility of his death. This year alone, over 10 nala deaths were reported. We do not want any sympathy or empathy. We just need accountability,” said a member of Rajnikanth's family.

However, officials have not initiated legal action either on the contractor or officials who have been monitoring the work. The authorities have not even ordered an internal inquiry.

Rajendranagar revenue divisional officer (RDO) K. Chandrakala had asked the police to register a case the contractor.

Manikonda municipal commissioner S. Jayanth said, “I'm the officer who needs to take action on the assistant engineer and the contractor, but I was busy with the rescue operations. I would recommend some compensation to the family and talk to the district collector tomorrow (Tuesday). I would also book a case on the contractor and initiate action against the contractor”  He was not present at the site, and reached at around 4.30 pm.

Though the NDRF, GHMC's Disaster Response Force (DRF), District Task Force (DTF), the police and Manikonda municipal staff were claimed to have been pressed into the rescue operations, Rajnikanth was recovered by one G. Saidulu, a JCB driver, accidentally.

He had not been informed that he was part of the rescue operation. “The site engineer did not inform me. The body was in the bucket of the JCB while I was removing hyacinth. I got the shock of my life and fled from the scene,” he said.

M. Raju recovered the body and shifted it to the bund with the help of NDRF, police and DRF team members.

Madhapur assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Ch Raghunandan Rao said the body was found at the outlet of the drain pipe leading to Ibrahim Cheruvu.

"After confirming his identity, we altered the missing case to 174 (suspicious death) of the CrPC," he said. Rao confirmed that no case has been filed the contractor.