Delhi pit death: Exec engineer has history of graft, show records

A DJB engineer was suspended after a man died in an unmarked pit, revealing prior corruption issues. Investigations into negligence are ongoing.

The executive engineer of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) responsible for the Janakpuri area, who was suspended on Friday following the death of a 25-year-old man after his motorcycle plunged into an open pit, had previously faced disciplinary action in a corruption case in 2020, according to internal DJB records accessed by Hindustan Times.

The pit where the 25-year-old man allegedly fell and died in Janakpuri. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Kamal Dhyani, 25, died late Thursday night after his bike fell into a 15-20-foot-deep pit dug for sewer-laying work on Joginder Singh Marg in west Delhi’s Janakpuri. Officials confirmed that the excavation site was inadequately barricaded and lacked reflective tapes or warning signage at the time of the incident.

Documents show that the executive engineer, identified as Azad Singh Grewal, who was in charge of the area where the incident took place, was suspended five years ago during an enquiry by DJB in a graft case, over complaints backed by video evidence allegedly showing him accepting cash from a water tanker operator.

According to an order issued by the DJB disciplinary authority in July 2020, the officer was found guilty of misconduct in a departmental inquiry. “The charged officer failed to discharge his statutory duties in accordance with the norms of integrity… removal from service which shall not be a disqualification for future employment under the Government,” the order stated, adding that the evidence on record was sufficient to prove acceptance of illegal gratification.

The inquiry officer, in his findings, rejected the officer’s defence that the money exchange seen in the video was the repayment of a personal loan. The disciplinary authority noted that the explanation “lacks substance and is an attempt to circumvent the facts on record,” particularly since the video showed the officer “clearly seen accepting money as illegal gratification from the driver/owner of a water tanker.”

While the report did not specify the amount that exchanged hands, it refers to the money as “multiple 500 rupees notes”. Multiple calls to the executive engineer did not elicit a response.

Following an appeal, the DJB’s appellate authority later modified the punishment. In an order dated September 23, 2021, the authority reduced the penalty to “reduction to three stages lower in the time scale of pay for a period of three years,” citing that the individual who allegedly paid the bribe could not be produced during the inquiry. The officer was reinstated in 2021 after remaining out of service for nearly a year.

This, however, is not an isolated case of corruption within the department. Annual reports of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) reviewed by HT show that the DJB has faced multiple vigilance complaints in recent years. According to CVC annual reports, at least six vigilance cases involving DJB officials were registered between 2018 and 2023, covering 12 charged officers. In 2021 alone, when the executive engineer was prosecuted, CVC received four complaints related to DJB, involving 11 officials.

In 2024, the latest annual report released by CVC, penalties were imposed on eight DJB officials following vigilance proceedings. In the same year, there were also 5,167 complaints to CVC against Delhi Police and 3,707 complaints against other departments of the Delhi government.

Annual reports show that in 2023, the CVC recorded more than 74,000 corruption complaints nationally, with those against employees of Delhi’s local bodies accounting for over 10%, at 7,665. Complaints against Delhi Police accounted for 5,300 of the total.

The fatal Janakpuri accident has once again brought scrutiny to the department’s supervision of on-ground work. Officials familiar with the matter said the sewer project had been underway for several months, and the pit into which the victim fell had been dug only two days earlier. Despite this, safety norms mandating proper barricading, reflective tapes and warning signs were not complied with.

Following the incident, the Delhi government ordered an inquiry and suspended multiple officials, including three engineers responsible for site supervision. The contractor executing the sewer work has also been placed under investigation. Police have registered a case in connection with Dhyani’s death and are examining whether criminal negligence was involved. Officials said accountability will be fixed after completion of parallel departmental and police investigations.