Kujang: A 14-year-old student died Monday evening after a flagpole came into contact with a high-voltage power line during Republic Day celebrations in Jagatsinghpur district, police said.
The victim, identified as Omprakash Dwivedi, was a Class X pupil at Kujang BB High School.
He was originally from Teragaon in Kendrapara district and had been staying at his uncle’s home in Samagol village under Kujang police limits.
According to police, the incident occurred at a private coaching centre in Kujang market, where a steel pipe had been used to hoist the national flag.
The 11-kV power line runs less than a metre from the flag site.
While the morning flag-hoisting went incident-free, Omprakash attempted to lower the flag by uprooting the pole in the afternoon.
Unable to manage the weight of the steel pipe, he lost control and it struck the overhead wire.
He sustained severe injuries on the spot.
Local residents rushed him to the Kujang community health centre, where doctors declared him dead.
Police seized the body and initially detained the coaching centre owner, Ashwini Nanda.
However, later that night, the boy’s grandfather, Rajkishore Dwivedi, submitted a written complaint to the police declaring no one had sent his grandson to lower the flag and that no one was responsible for his death.
Following the statement, police registered an unnatural death case (3/26) and released the coaching centre owner.
The body was handed over to the family after post-mortem examination Tuesday.
The incident has sparked discussion in the locality, as the coaching centre owner is reportedly a close relative of the boy’s maternal family.