Delhi police make first arrest in Janakpuri death case, sub-contractor held

This is the first arrest made in the case while at least two more people are being interrogated and could be placed under arrest by evening

The Delhi Police on Saturday arrested a sub-contractor following the death of 25-year-old banking telecaller in west Delhi’s Janakpuri in the early hours of Friday after allegedly falling into a 4.5-metre deep, uncovered and unsecured pit dug by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on a poorly lit road.

Kamal Dhyani died after falling into an uncovered pit in the Janakpuri area of West Delhi. (ANI photo)

This is the first arrest made in the case while at least two more people are being interrogated and could be placed under arrest by evening, said two senior police officers aware of the developments.

Joint commissioner of police (western range) Jatin Narwal confirmed the arrest of the sub-contractor, identified as Rajesh Prajapati, a resident of Tri Nagar in northwest Delhi. He, however, refused to share additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.

A senior police officer aware of Prajapati’s arrest said on the condition of anonymity, “We have arrested the sub-contractor, Rajesh Prajapati, after establishing that he had visited the incident spot after being informed about the mishap by his employee, saw the biker lying inside the pit with his bike but returned home without making efforts to rescue the victim or informing police or any other government agency about the incident.”

The officer further said that Prajapati was sub-contracted by the private company that was awarded the contract by the Delhi Jal Board to lay sewer lines in the area. The role of the owner of the company and other people involved in the digging of the pit on Joginder Singh Marg at B3B block in Janakpuri is also being probed which registered a culpable homicide case under section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Janakpuri police station following Dhyani’s death, which underlined serious administrative apathy and a disturbing flouting of norms by authorities.

Kamal Dhyani, who worked as an assistant manager at a call centre run by HDFC Bank, finished his shift and got on his TVS Apache motorcycle for the roughly 20-km commute back home to Kailashpuri in Palam Colony. At 11:53pm, he called his twin brother Karan, saying he was only 15 minutes away and shared his location. His family members searched for him the entire night and claimed that they visited at least six police stations but did not receive much help.

Around 8am on Friday, local residents saw Dhyani’s body caked in mud at the bottom of the pit, his backpack and helmet intact, the damaged motorcycle over his body. A woman informed the police after which Dhyani’s body and his motorcycle were taken out of the pit. Dhyani was declared dead at Deen Dayal hospital.