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2 canteen workers found dead inside room after pest-control fumigation at Pune-based college
They have been working in the student canteen of Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT) for the past year-and-a-half, said officials
Two men working in the canteen of a city-based engineering college were found dead on Wednesday inside their room in Dhankawadi, which had been fumigated for pest control, police officials said on Thursday.
The two were identified as Anant Shivdas Khedkar, 21, a native of Dhorapgaon in Buldhana, and Ajay Rajendra Beldar, also in his early twenties and a native of Kapuswadi in Jalgaon.
They have been working in the student canteen of Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT) for the past year-and-a-half, said officials.
“Three of us were currently living there. I had gone home to Kapuswadi (my native place) and came back on Wednesday morning. I do not know when the pest control was conducted,” said Vinesh Ramkrushna Pandey, 21, who operates the computer counter at the canteen. While one of the two deceased helped in the kitchen, the other used to work as a server, Pandey said.
After finding them unconscious, the two were rushed to Bharti hospital where they were declared dead at 9:30am. The two later underwent a post-mortem at the Sassoon General Hospital on insistence of their relatives.
While Anant is an orphan, Beldar is survived by a visually challenged mother and a mentally challenged elder brother, said Janrao Pandey, a maternal relative of Beldar.
The police found material used for fumigation from the rented house they were living in. The house in which they were found is an isolated construction barely 100 metres from the college campus, the police said.
“We have sent ash from the fumigation for tests. The room they both were in was completely shut (doors and windows). There was no sign of entry. The manager said that the two had failed to report to work so he went to check on them at the house. He found them sleeping next to a window so he broke the window inwards,” said a police official who was at the spot.
“There will be an accidental death report in the case. There is no visible proof of forced entry. Their viscera has been reserved and will be sent for further tests at the forensic laboratory. Now, we are looking for people who conducted the pest control and have spoken to the house-owner,” said assistant police inspector CM Suryavanshi of the Bharati Vidyapeeth police station, who is investigating the case.
Earlier, on September 23 last year, two children, identified as Sahil Dongre, 10, and Sarthak Dongre, 9, were found dead, allegedly due to inhaling fumes after pest control. Later, the mother of the two filed a police complaint against her husband, an employee of a pest control firm, and in-laws, charging them with culpable homicide.
