A traffic pole collapsed in central Delhi’s Connaught Place on Tuesday night, injuring a 12- to 13-year-old boy and a scooter rider, police said. The boy was travelling in an auto-rickshaw when the pole fell, while the other injured person, aged around 50, was passing through the area on a scooter.
The pole struck both people as it came down. Police said the exact circumstances behind the collapse had not yet been established. A police team reached the spot after receiving information about the incident, and the injured were taken to a nearby hospital.
The condition of the two injured people was not known at the time of the report. Police were collecting details from eyewitnesses and examining available CCTV footage to reconstruct how the pole fell and determine what happened immediately before the incident.
Preliminary information indicated that the pole may have fallen unexpectedly. Officials were examining several possible causes, including structural weakness, a technical fault or another unidentified factor. No conclusion had been announced on the cause of the collapse.
The incident took place in Connaught Place, one of Delhi’s busiest commercial and public areas, where pedestrians, auto-rickshaws, two-wheelers and other vehicles share streets around the inner and outer circles. The reported involvement of road users has placed the focus on the condition and maintenance of roadside traffic infrastructure, although police had not attributed the collapse to any specific maintenance failure.
The available account did not specify the pole’s exact location, the extent of the injuries or whether any traffic restrictions were imposed after the incident. It also did not identify the agency responsible for installing or maintaining the pole. Those details may form part of the ongoing examination of the site and CCTV footage.
Police said witness accounts and video evidence would be reviewed as part of the investigation. Further findings on the cause of the collapse and the condition of the injured are awaited.
