Delhi man chokes to death after forced to clean sewer by mall staff in Rohini
The deceased was identified as Hare Krishna Prasad, who is survived by his wife and 10-month-old daughter
A 32-year-old man died and another was injured after they inhaled toxic gases while cleaning a sewer outside a mall in Rohini, north-west Delhi, police said on Tuesday, adding that three men have been arrested. The incident took place on Sunday afternoon when the housekeeping staff at the D Mall in Sector 10, Rohini, allegedly pressured the two men to clean the sewer and did not provide them with safety equipment, police added.
The deceased was identified as Hare Krishna Prasad, who is survived by his wife and 10-month-old daughter. The injured man, Sagar Kumar, 20, is undergoing treatment at a local hospital.
According to investigators, a student who was passing through the area made a police control room call about the incident at 3.18pm on Sunday. Police said they rushed to the spot and found Prasad and Kumar lying unconscious inside the sewer.
“The sewer was outside the mall and the men were lying inside. The mall staff and locals helped us rush them to the BSA Hospital but Prasad had died…” said a police officer. The FIR lodged by the police said Sagar was brought to the hospital “in casualty in a gasping state” after “drowning inside a sewer”.
Police said the men collapsed inside the sewer due to toxic gasses and were found covered in dirt and water. The FIR also said that the men worked as sweepers for a private company and the company was given the contract for D Mall’s maintenance and housekeeping work.
“We found that the mall’s housekeeping supervisor Rajpal Kumar was forcing the sweepers to clean the sewer…This is because other people such as the mall’s maintenance supervisor asked him to… The mall employees said they were instructed by the mall’s facility manager, Gurdeep Singh, and area manager Amit Dubey to clean all the sewers regularly and put in more workers if the work is not done in time…” said the FIR.
Police arrested Singh, Dubey, and Kumar after an inquiry and booked them for causing death by negligence and under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavenger and their Rehabilitation Act.
Police said the accused allegedly forced employees to clean sewers and didn’t provide them with ladders, masks, gloves and other safety equipment.
The PCR caller, Ayush (one name), told HT, “I was walking towards the mall when I heard screams. I rushed to the spot where a man was lying inside the sewer. Another man, Prasad, had climbed out of the sewer but went back inside to save his friend. Kumar survived but Prasad died.”
Meanwhile, Prasad’s family said he was being forced to clean the sewer for months. His younger brother, Sameer Soni, said, “I was at home when I received a call on Sunday evening about my brother’s death. We knew he was being forced for months to clean the sewers at the mall. But this wasn’t his duty. He was a housekeeping staffer. He had also complained to his seniors but nobody helped him. He died because of the toxic gases. Everyone knew these sewers were filled with toxic substances but they still forced my brother...”