E-Paper
Five killed, two labourers hurt returning from ‘night shift’ at municipal work site in Ghaziabad; sub contractor booked
Five of the seven daily wage workers engaged at a municipal corporation work site on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday were killed when they fell off a
Five of the seven daily wage workers engaged at a municipal corporation work site on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday were killed when they fell off a reportedly rashly driven tractor-trolley and were crushed under the wheels of oncoming vehicles, the police said, adding that two workers escaped with injuries.
According to the police, the tractor-trolley was driven by the son of the sub-contractor, who had initially filed an FIR against an unidentified driver. But police investigation found that laxity on part of sub-contractor Naseem Ahmad’s son led to the accident, which took place on the Delhi-Meerut Road near Manan Dham at 2.15am. The suspect, identified as Shahrukh, fled soon after, the police said.
The deceased were Pravesh (19), his cousin Durgesh (26), Amit Kumar (25), Krishan Kumar (26) and Chandra Kumar (50) years. The injured were identified as Johnny (26) and Rahul (26). Five hail from Meerut; two are from Saharanpur.
“In the morning, the sub contractor filed an FIR against unidentified vehicle driver whom he alleged had hit their tractor-trolley leading to five deaths. We suspected the complaint was made in haste and inspected the site besides scanning CCTV footage. The tractor-trolley was open on all sides and labourers were sitting on a stack of items in the centre. The footage shows a truck passed by without hitting the trolley. Later, a bus and other vehicles passed by at the time when the accident is estimated to have taken place,” SP (rural) Neeraj Kumar Jadaun said.
“The heads of five victims were crushed. From the incident site and available evidence we suspect the trolley overturned and the seven workers fell on the road. We suspect their heads of five were crushed by oncoming vehicles. Trolley driver, Naseem’s son Shahrukh, fled after the accident. The circumstances indicate that Shahrukh was probably at fault and he fled as he was driving rashly. We have directed that investigation will now take place against the sub contractor and his son,” the SP added.
The police, on Monday night, said that they have converted Indian Penal Code Section 304A (death by negligence) to Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against Shahrukh, among other sections for threatening and force workers to work at night was also added against the sub contractor.
“We have also added provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after victims gave their complaint,” Jadaun added on Monday evening.
The police said that labourers were hired by Ahmad, who hails from Saharanpur. He had been asked to get labourers to expedite the municipal corporation’s street light project in the area.
Sub-contractor Ahmad, however, said civic officials had pressured the contractor to expedite work and had penalised the firm. “This is why we all were here till 2am and working to lay a pipe for the street-light project. I was in my Scorpio SUV when the trolley left the site near Manan Dham. It later took a U-turn and headed towards Ghaziabad city. One of my employees called and informed me about the accident. I was 1-1.5km behind the trolley and I rushed to the spot. The five men had already died and their head were crushed,” Ahmad said.
Municipal commissioner Dinesh Chandra, however, denied that he or any municipal officer directed the work be done at night. “We did not give any order to take up work at night and that too without protective gear. It is an accident and did not take place at the construction site. It took place on route,” he added.
The post-mortem examination of the five workers was conducted at Hindon mortuary. Sources in the health department said all bodies bore about 5-6 injury marks, each.
