Former Additional Secretary dies after falling into open drain, goes unnoticed for hours

SREEKARYAM: Former Additional Secretary of Secretariat VS Shailaja (72) met a tragic end after falling into an uncovered drain in the capital. At around 7:30 pm on Saturday, she fell into the drain near Edavacode Padma hollow bricks. The drain was more than one and a half meters deep. It was only in the morning that locals noticed her lying unconscious in the drain.

The CCTV visuals confirmed that she fell into the roadside pit on Saturday. In the fall, Shailaja suffered head injuries and bled to death. She is the wife of C.S. Sushilan Panicker, Retired Manager, at Kerala Agro Industries Corporation, resident of T.R.A-66A, Thiruvananthapuram Thekkummoodu.

Shailaja was on her way to visit her daughter Dr. Anju’s house in Kallampally Pratiba Nagar. She didn’t inform her daughter about the visit and Shailaja’s husband was also with her daughter. So the family thought Shailaja to be at her ancestral house all night.

According to the Police:

Shailaja reached Kallampally by an auto rickshaw and started walking towards her daughter’s house. CCTV visuals show Shailaja moving towards the aisle of the road and taking another route through Mulavoor lane in fear of strays. In the darkness, she slipped into the drain which was left uncovered.

The body, which has been kept at the medical college mortuary, will be placed for public viewing on Monday at 8 am at his home in Thekkummoodu. The cremation will take place in Shantikavadam at 10.30 am.