Delhi sewer deaths: 2 maintenance firm officials held from Moti Nagar

On September 9, five men were killed after they stepped into a deep sewage treatment plant at the DLF Capital Greens in Moti Nagar

Around 12 days after five men were killed cleaning a sewage treatment plant (STP) at an upscale residential complex in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar, police on Saturday claimed to have made two more arrests in the case.

On September 9, five men were killed after they stepped into a deep sewage treatment plant at the DLF Capital Greens in Moti Nagar (Raj K Raj / Hindustan Times)

Saturday’s arrests take the total number of people held in the case to five.

Deputy commissioner of police (west) Monika Bhardwaj said the two arrested persons, identified as DN Mishra and Bharat Raj Verma, were officials of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) — a services firm that had outsourced different agencies for housekeeping, maintenance of the STP at DLF Capital Greens.

“Mishra is the senior manager as well as property manager for JLL. He was the head for the site from JLL side. Verma is the assistant manager (technical) in JLL. The two have been arrested because they had close supervision on the operations regarding operations and management of the sewage treatment plant,” said DCP Bhardwaj.

When contacted for the company’s comment over Saturday’s arrests, a JLL spokesperson said, “An official statement regarding the matter can only be issued tomorrow (Sunday).”

The investigating team had arrested two men — Digambar and Pravin Kumar — six days ago. Digamber was the supervisor and the person who had allegedly ordered the five men to step into the STP.

Kumar owned the firm that was in charge of housekeeping at the residential complex. Ajay Chaudhary, who was the plant-in-charge for JLL, was the first person to be arrested in the case a day after the incident took place.

On September 9, five men were killed after they stepped into a deep sewage treatment plant at the DLF Capital Greens in Moti Nagar.

Survivors and colleagues alleged that cleaning the septic tank was not a part of their duty but they did it as they had been threatened that they would be sacked if they refused. They also alleged that the workers had not been provided any safety gear.