Twin Brother's Anguish: 'He Was Just 10 Minutes Away From Home'
The tragic death of 25-year-old Kamal Dhyani, who fell into a pit dug by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in Janakpuri, has left his family devastated and raised serious questions about public safety protocols. His twin brother, Karan Dhyani, recounted the harrowing sequence of events that began with a routine phone call and ended in unimaginable loss.
The Fateful Night and Frantic Search
"The last time I spoke to Kamal was at 11:53 PM on Thursday," said Karan, standing outside the mortuary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital on Friday afternoon. "He told me he had reached the District Centre in Janakpuri and would be home in Palam within 10 minutes. By 12:15 AM, when he hadn't arrived, we started getting seriously worried."
Kamal, who worked as a telecaller at an HDFC Bank branch in Rohini's Sector 10, was returning from his office when the tragedy occurred. After repeated unanswered calls, Karan and their father Naresh Chand, along with some of Kamal's friends, began searching for him around 12:30 AM.
"We first went to Vikaspuri police station to report him missing," Karan explained. "The officers suggested we search in Janakpuri since that was his last known location. We checked his phone's location, which showed a 200-meter radius around the District Centre area."
The Discovery and Investigation Details
Police records reveal that around 2:30 AM, when Karan reached Janakpuri police station, officers showed him multiple medico-legal case records of unidentified deceased persons. The search continued through the night, covering areas including Vikaspuri, Sagarpur, and Rohini.
"We searched a park parallel to the accident site," said a police officer involved in the operation. "However, since the road had already been barricaded due to excavation work, we didn't go there directly. Construction was ongoing on various parts of that service road."
The breakthrough came around 8 AM Friday when a woman dropping her child at a nearby school noticed a man lying face down inside a pit with a motorcycle. Kamal was still wearing his helmet, and most of his belongings were found intact.
The Dangerous Pit and Safety Concerns
The fatal pit was dug on a service road between Joginder Singh Marg and the boundary wall of the Andhra Education Society School as part of a DJB underground pipeline project. According to police, the excavation work began on Wednesday, just two days before the accident.
"A section of the service road that included the accident site was the only area open for movement until Wednesday," explained the investigating officer. "Vehicles used this road to bypass other construction zones. About 24 hours before the incident, this section was also dug up, with diversion boards placed at the start of the road."
On Friday, barricades could be found 60 to 100 meters on either side of the pit. Police noted that another pit had been dug further down the service road, with two additional sections barricaded by the DJB for months.
Investigation Challenges and Family's Grief
DCP (West) Darade Sharad Bhaskar confirmed that police received a PCR call around 8 AM and found Kamal unconscious in the pit with his motorcycle. "We are questioning an eyewitness who claims to have seen the accident, as well as a watchman from a nearby residential society," said a senior police officer. "It appears Kamal fell into the pit between 12 AM and 12:15 AM."
Significantly, police have recovered no CCTV footage of Kamal entering the road or the accident itself. This lack of visual evidence complicates the investigation into the exact circumstances of his death.
Karan expressed frustration with the search efforts: "If the police had started searching in Vikaspuri earlier, my brother could have been saved." The Dhyani family, including parents Naresh Chand (a priest) and three sons (Kamal, Karan, and elder brother Mayank), lived together in Kailaspuri colony in Southwest Delhi's Palam area.
The Delhi Jal Board has suspended three officials following the incident, and the government has ordered a probe into the safety violations. This tragedy highlights critical gaps in construction site safety measures and emergency response protocols in the national capital.
