Goregaon toxic fumes deaths: Landowner arrested, metal plating unit operator on the run

MUMBAI: A day after two men died after suspected exposure to toxic fumes inside a public toilet in Goregaon, the Vanrai police on Monday arrested the owner of the land on which the adjacent metal plating workshop operates

MUMBAI: A day after two men died after suspected exposure to toxic fumes inside a public toilet in Goregaon, the Vanrai police on Monday arrested the owner of the land on which the adjacent metal plating workshop operates.

Police suspect that fumes from sulphuric acid used at the plating unit entered the public toilet through underground discharge chambers, leading to the deaths of Bhavin Desai, 18, and Prabhakar Dhivar, 25, on Sunday.

The police have registered an FIR under Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against the workshop operator and landowner Vipul Chawda. While Chawda, who had leased the land to the plating unit, has been arrested, the workshop operator remains at large. A police team has been sent to Uttar Pradesh to trace him.

“So far, in the case, we have arrested Vipul Chawda, who had leased the land to the metal plating unit,” said Abdul Rauf Shaikh, senior police inspector of Vanrai police station.

The bodies of Desai and Dhivar were sent for post-mortem examination. The two were members of a local Ganpati mandal and had been at Shivshankar Nagar, near Ram Mandir railway station, with six others to dismantle the mandal after the festivities and immersion.

The incident occurred around 2.30am when the group stopped for dinner. Desai and Dhivar then went to the nearby public toilet to freshen up. When they did not return after about 15 minutes, the others went to check on them.

One of the men was found unconscious with the toilet door open. When the group checked on the other, they found the door locked from inside. After receiving no response to their knocks, they broke open the door and found him unconscious as well.

The two were rushed to Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari, where doctors declared them brought dead at around 3.50am. Police are awaiting the post-mortem and forensic findings to establish the exact cause of death and determine the role of the plating unit in the incident.