Father’s sudden death leaves gaping hole in lives of Delhi family

NEW DELHI: Eighteen-year-old Dhruv was eagerly waiting for his father to return home when a phone call from police turned his life upside down. His father, Ajit Sharma (51) had drowned after his autorickshaw fell into a waterlogged pothole in northeast Delhi’s Harsh Vihar, the cops said.

That was on June 30, 2023. Nearly three years have passed, yet no chargesheet has been filed in the case.


“The 12-foot-deep pit was dug up near an underconstruction flyover to install iron pillars. It was full of water after a heavy spell of rain. It seems Sharmadrove into it without realising it was deep and drowned accidentally,” a police officer had said after his death.

Public Works Department (PWD) was undertaking the construction work at the spot, police said and registered a case under Section 304A of IPC for causing death by negligence.

A preliminary police probe revealed that improper barricading, absence of signage and lack of security guards at the spot might have led to the accident.

However, PWD had said that the responsibility to maintain the stretch was with a private company working under it, adding that govt would look into any laxity on the part of the contractor and take appropriate action. “At the de-partmental level, the PWD minister has directed that strictest possible action should be taken against officials found guilty,” according to a statement issued by the agency at that time.

Cut to the present. A senior police officer says an employee of the private company was apprehended over the accident. “The Forensic Science Laboratory report in the case is still awaited. It will help determine the exact cause of Sharma’s death. That’s why a chargesheet has not yet been filed,” the officer says.

Sharma is survived by his parents, wife and four children who now live in a dilapidated house in northeast Delhi’s Nand Nagri.

“Ajit used to take care of us. After his death, our lives have fallen apart,” his mother, Kamla Devi, tells TOI, her quivering voice betraying a wound that seems still raw.

Sharma’s wife, Meenu, took up a job at a factory to sustain the family. Her two sons, their studies thrown off track, also began working. The family received Rs 7.5 lakh as compensation, but it was insufficient to rebuild their lives. “We had loans, which we repaid using this money. We don’t have any fund left to repair our house,” she says.

Following her husband’s death, Meenu had approached multiple officials associated with the construction work on the road. “They only said ‘ galti ho gayi ’, but that one mistake has destroyed our entire family,” she says.

Innocence lost in playground total recall➤ Ajit Sharma (51) died after his autorickshaw plunged into a pothole following heavy rain in Harsh Vihar  

➤ Preliminary investigation revealed improper barricading, absence of fencing or signage and lack of security guards at the spot  

➤ Nearly three years on, a chargesheet is yet to be filed in the case  

➤ The family received Rs 7.5 lakh as compensation, but claims to have got no updates on progress of the investigation