Two persons of a family at Pasidhaura slum in the Gopalichak area under Putki police station died due to electrocution on Tuesday morning while switching on a television set.

The incident took place at around 10 am when 34-year-old Gudiya Devi switched on the television set lying over an iron box and suffered electrocution. Her father-in-law Chamar Pasi (70) also faced the same fate when he rushed to save her but came in contact with electricity.

Local residents and neighbours came to know about the incident when Guriya Devi’s six-year-old daughter Pari Kumari came out of the house and informed them that her mother and grandfather were lying unconscious on the floor.

Vinod Pasi, a nephew of Chamar Pasi, said that Guriya Devi’s husband Prakash Pasi, was away at Chennai to work as a migrant labourer.

“We were ourselves afraid of the incident and first informed the electricity department. We entered the house after the power supply was snapped and then informed police, who recovered the bodies and sent them for post-mortem,” said Pasi.

He further informed that the mudhouse of Chamar Pasi was affected due to damp conditions caused due to continuous rains of the last five days. The iron box on which the TV set was kept was lying close to one of the affected walls, causing the current to flow into the television set.

Sanjeev Tiwari, officer-in-charge of Putki Police station said, “Prima facie it seems that both persons died due to electrocution but we sent the dead bodies for post-mortem, which will throw light on the cause of the death.”