After facing flak on social media the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to file a defamation suit against the victim and a few others. The BMC was slammed over a city-based fund manager’s narrow escape after slipping in an open manhole in Lower Parel area.
According to Indian Express, Samir Arora, fund manager, fell into an open manhole in Laxmi Woolen Mills estate at Lower Parel on April 25. The incident came to light after Arora responded to a tweet from his friend Neeraj Batra, who had first shared the incident on Twitter. Samir Arora had tweeted, “If BMC finds my Samsung phone in the drain they can keep it with my compliments.” Batra in his tweet had also said that the “public should throw some of these BMC guys down these open manholes”. Batra had later deleted the tweet.
After this, the BMC was trolled on social media, which did not go well with the civic body, especially since the manhole was located on private premises and not under the jurisdiction of the BMC. After the incident, the BMC clarified that the manhole was located on a private society and later decided to file a defamation notice against Arora and others. Devendra Kumar Jain, ward officer confirmed with Mid-Day that a defamation case will be filed in the matter. The BMC has also issued a notice to the private society for failing to put a barricade around the manhole during construction work.
The notice issued by the civic body to the society says, “Due to the negligence of the private contractor and poor supervision of your staff, the accident occurred and it could have resulted in the death of Mr Samir Arora,” reported the leading daily.
