Man dies on a balcony beside an 11 kV line in Ganj Basoda

A balcony, a wire and one man

On Friday, 23 October 2026, at about 1 pm, a man of 65 died on the third-floor balcony of a rented house in Gayatri Nagar, Ward 6, Ganj Basoda, in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh. An 11 kV overhead line runs very close to the building. Reports say he was leaning out to spit when his saliva, or his head or body, touched or came near the line. He died on the spot. Almost every outlet gives his age as 65, and two say 60. Most call him a mason from Chhatarpur who had rented the house for about ten years. One says he worked as a mechanic.

A Dial 112 team reached the spot. Police from the Ganj Basoda city station took charge of the body and registered an unnatural-death (marg) case. An Additional Superintendent of Police told one outlet that the investigation was on. No report carries a statement from the electricity company.

How the current reached him is not settled

Most reports, citing residents, say the stream of saliva touched the wire and carried the current to him. Electrical experts quoted in the English reports say saliva has some moisture and salts and could conduct, and that an 11 kV line can also jump an air gap as an arc if something conductive gets close enough. A Hindi report says plainly that the exact way the current reached him can be confirmed only by the inquiry. Another says his head or body came in contact with the line. We cannot say which of these happened.

No report says how far the wire was from the balcony. No report says whether it was a bare conductor or an insulated cable. They also do not say which company owns that line, and speak only of “the electricity company” or “the department”. One outlet calls the house under construction. The others say he had lived there for years.

“We had complained”

Residents told reporters they had asked several times for the line to be moved away from the houses, and that nothing was done. The owner of the house said she had applied for the line to be shifted, was given assurances, and saw no action. A ward councillor, quoted by one outlet, said regular maintenance of lines and equipment was not being done and that 11 kV lines pass very close to homes in several parts of the town. A family member said the poles, wires and transformers in the locality were in poor condition.

These are allegations. We found no copy of a complaint, no date, no complaint number and no reply from the company. They are serious enough to be checked, and the police say their inquiry covers the safety side too.

What the safety rules say about wires near buildings

The Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2023 deal with this directly. What follows is the notified text, and not a finding about this particular line, whose distance nobody has reported.

• Regulation 63 covers lines above 650 volts, which includes 11 kV. A line is not to pass over an existing building as far as possible, and no building is to be put up under an existing line.
• Where such a line passes over or near a building, the nearest conductor must be at least 1.2 metres away horizontally for lines up to and including 11 kV, measured with the line swung out to its maximum by wind. For lines above 11 kV and up to 33 kV, it is 2.0 metres.
• Directly under the line, the vertical gap above the highest part of the building must be at least 3.7 metres for lines above 650 V and up to 33 kV.
• The word “building” there covers any structure, permanent or temporary.
• Regulation 65 says that anyone who plans a new building, an extra floor or any change near an existing line must give written notice, with a drawing, to the line owner and the electrical inspector. The owner checks it, and work is not to start until the electrical inspector certifies that regulations 60, 62, 63 and 66 will not be broken. The person doing the building can be made to pay for shifting the line.

Please read these numbers as the floor for the building, not as a distance that keeps a person safe. Someone leaning out of a balcony, or holding a pole, a pipe or a wet cloth, can shorten the gap. A March 2026 amendment to the same regulations, which we opened in part, is about battery energy storage and does not appear to touch regulations 62 to 65.

We do not know whether this building, or this line, met those distances. That is a question for the electrical inspector.

If a wire runs close to your home

• Do not touch, lean towards or reach for it, and do not lean out from a balcony or terrace edge near it. Wet surfaces and metal railings make it worse.
• Keep iron rods, pipes, antenna poles, flag poles, ladders and metal-frame washing lines well away. Never move a wire yourself.
• If someone is stuck to a wire or railing, do not touch them. Keep everyone back, call 112 and ask the electricity company to cut the supply. Once the supply is off, the first aid guide covers burns and CPR once the person is safe to reach.
• Report the line in writing and keep the receipt. The MP Madhya Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company lists 1912 and 1800 233 1912 as its helpline and has a complaint form on its website, and it has an operations circle at Vidisha. If a number does not connect, the emergency numbers guide lists the national ones.
• Building a floor or a house near a line? Give the notice that regulation 65 asks for before work starts, not after.

Two recent cases show 11 kV lines and people meeting in a different setting. One is the Majholi immersion procession in Jabalpur, in the same state, and the other is the Gulriha immersion in Gorakhpur.

If you live beside a line like this, our practical guide on electric wires close to your house, balcony or terrace explains what to look for and whom to call.

Living in Ganj Basoda or the towns around it? The Ganj Basoda safety guide has the local fire and emergency contacts in one place.

What is still open

We do not know the distance of the line from the balcony, who owns it, how the current reached him, or whether any complaint was ever recorded. The age and his trade differ between reports. We do not name him or his family, and the police have announced no cause.

Updated 27 October 2026.

Tonight, step out and look at the wires near your balcony or terrace. If one runs closer than you would like, keep away from that side and report it to the electricity company in writing tomorrow morning.