Delhi drain victims’ associate shut lid, didn’t try to help: Family

The two victims -- Khursheed (31) and Sajjad (34) (only first names) -- had gone missing on March 18. They were found in a drain near IIC in Lodhi Estate on Tuesday evening

The two labourers who were found dead inside a drain near India International Centre (IIC) on Tuesday evening suffocated to death because their third associate covered it with a lid and didn’t call for help, the families of the victims have alleged on Wednesday, even as the police registered a case of murder and arrested their associate.

The victims’ relatives at RML hospital mortuary on Wednesday. (HT)

The two victims -- Khursheed (31) and Sajjad (34) (only first names) -- had gone missing on March 18, their brother-in-law Mohammed Ashab said on Wednesday, following which their families in Bihar called him and asked him to check on them.

Ashab, 23, said the two victims were daily wage labourers and lived with their associate Ateek, 23, and two others, Alauddin and Firdaus, in a slum at Kotla Mubarakpur.

A police officer, who asked not to be named, said the deceased used to clean sewers and eventually realised the sewers contained waste copper wires which they started to steal and sell.

“On the day of the incident, the three had gone to the drains near IIC with the intention to steal copper wires. Khurshid went inside first and fainted. Sajjad went next and fainted as well. But Ateek managed to come out within minutes. He then covered the drain with a lid and fled, without telling anyone about two people being trapped inside,” the officer said.

According to the officer, Ateek returned an hour later, after changing his clothes, to pick up the clothes of the deceased that were lying outside the drain, and the equipment they had brought with them to open the drain cover.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Amrutha Guguloth said a case under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (obstruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered, and Ateek, a native of Bihar, has been arrested.

“Ateek was also found involved in a case under the Arms Act reported in 2016 in Sarita Vihar. Khurshid was found involved in a theft case reported in Hauz Khas in 2017. Alauddin, their roommate, knew that the two were missing but it is being ascertained whether he also knew about their deaths,” the DCP said.

Ashab, who had come to the mortuary of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Wednesday to collect the bodies of the deceased, shared the sequence of events as he knew them. He said he was looking for the deceased since March 21, when their families told him that their phones were not reachable.

“On March 21, Khurshid’s mother called me around 9am and said he last called on March 17, and his phone is switched off since then. They asked me to look for him,” said Ashab, a daily wager based in Noida.

He called Alauddin, who told him that he was also looking for the them. “On Tuesday morning, I called Alauddin again and asked him if had any news about my two relatives. This time, he said he had heard about the recovery of two bodies in Usmanpur area of north-east Delhi. I went there and locals told me that no such incident has taken place there,” Ashab said.

He said he went to Kotla Mubarakpur the same day, and when his queries did not elicit a proper response, he threatened Alauddin and Ateek that he was going to report the matter to the police. On this, Ateek told him that he knew the place where the two victims had gone for work.

“He took me to the area where there were a few closed drains. We opened two but didn’t find anything. When we opened the third, we found Khursheed and Sajjad’s bloated bodies,” Ashab said, adding that a local resident informed the police.

The police shifted the bodies to the mortuary for post-mortem examination.

Ashab said Khurshid is survived by his parents, wife, and five children, and Sajjad is survived by his mother, a disabled younger brother, wife and a son. “The two persons were living in Delhi for the past eight or nine years and their families are back in Bihar’s Araria. Both were sole bread winners of their respective families,” he said.