Septic tank deaths in Dera Bassi: Factory owner, director, GM booked for culpable homicide
Case against the factory management lodged on the complaint of the brother of one of the victims; culpable homicide is punishable with up to 10 years in jail
A day after four men, including a Nepalese national, died of asphyxia while cleaning a septic tank at a meat processing plant in Dera Bassi’s Behra village, police on Saturday booked the factory’s owner, general manager and one of the directors for culpable homicide.

The accused are Kamil Qureshi, a noted meat exporter and owner of Federal Agro Industries Private Limited, general manager PS Hameed and latter’s son Mohammed Shahid Hameed, who is one of the directors at the company.
The trio are facing a case under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 (acts done in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, punishable with jail up to 10 years.
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‘Mgmt didn’t inform victims’ families’
The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Surinder Singh, brother of one of the victims, Manak Singh, a plumbing contractor at the factory, who alleged that the factory authorities made no effort to inform the victims’ families about the tragedy.
Apart from Manak Singh, 25, a resident of Behra village, those who died in the mishap were Janak Thapa, 35, a native of Nepal, and Shridhar Pandey, 25, and Kurban, 35, both hailing from Bihar.
Surinder told the police that Manak, youngest of four siblings, had been working at the factory for the past seven years.
He said it was Kuldip Singh, a native of their village, who also works in the factory, who informed his mother about the accident.
On receiving information from his mother, Surinder, along with his brother Nihal Singh, rushed to the factory, where they learnt that Manak and three others had been rushed to the Dera Bassi civil hospital after collapsing in the septic tank. But they were pronounced dead at the hospital.
Surinder alleged that he, along with his family members, visited the factory later and learnt that animal hides were being dumped in the 12-foot-deep and one-meter-wide pit.
He alleged that the company had not cleaned the tank for six to seven months, leading to formation of poisonous gases in it. He further stated that the factory management were fully aware that when the lid would be taken off, it will emit the poisonous gases.
But they did not provide any safety equipment to the workers while directing them to carry out the cleaning job, which led to the death of his brother Manak and three others, alleged Surinder.
Dera Bassi ASP Darpan Ahluwalia said an FIR had been registered and the accused will be nabbed soon. A magisterial inquiry ordered by Mohali deputy commissioner Aashika Jain is also underway.
Meanwhile, the contractor who was assigned the task to clean the tank, Yamu Din, bunked the director’s claim that the tank was cleaned every alternate day.
Din maintained that the tank was opened for cleaning after nearly seven months. “The four workers collapsed one after the other after inhaling the poisonous gases. I also fainted and regained consciousness after nearly an hour,” he said.
