Missing security guard found dead in lift duct of under-construction building

Security guard found dead in a lift duct at a construction site in Mumbai. Police suspect negligence, investigating cause of death.

MUMBAI: A 37-year-old security guard, who was reported missing a few days ago, was found dead in the lift duct of an under-construction building in Goregaon. The police have registered a case of death by negligence against an unknown person.

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Sunil Jaiswal, the deceased, began working on the site on March 28 after leaving his previous job. He got this job through his father Ramshitoman Jaiswal, who works as a security guard at the same site and had started just a week before Sunil. Ramshitoman mentioned to the police that Sunil worked double shifts for two days, intending to finish on April 4 evening. During lunch together at the site around 1pm on April 4, Sunil expressed his dissatisfaction with the double shifts and planned to leave for home around 7pm.

Sunil was stationed near a lift and his father was at the main gate. While the other people working at the construction site were leaving around 7.30pm, they told Ramshiroman that his son was not with them.

“This alerted his father as Sunil would routinely get epileptic fits. Along with another security personnel, he searched through the entire construction site, called Sunil’s phone but found it switched off, called his other sons to enquire whether Sunil had returned home and informed the company about his disappearance as well,” informed an officer from Goregaon police. He added that after waiting for a couple of days to see whether his son would go back to their village in Uttar Pradesh, Ramshiroman registered a missing complaint with the Goregaon police.

Around noon on April 7, Ramshiroman was informed by a construction worker that a slightly decomposed body had been found in the lift duct of the site. Two of his younger sons arrived at the site to hand him his lunch. “When they went to see what the commotion inside was, they identified the body to be Sunil’s,” said the officer.

“Based on the family’s version of events, an unknown person was booked under section 304A of the IPC for causing death by negligence. We have sent some samples for chemical analysis as the cause of death has not yet been ascertained. We are recording the statements of those who were present near the duct that day to understand what happened to Sunil,” said the officer.