Last year in October, five men lost their lives while attempting to clean the sludge tank on the premises of a private company in Kandla town of Kutch district in Gujarat. However, almost four months later, the police say they still don't have the official “cause of death” in the case. The reason? They have not yet received the report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). The incident took place between 12.30 am and 1 am on October 16, 2024, when the men were cleaning the effluent plant of Emami Agrotech. The police filed an Accidental Death (AD) report and the case was investigated by Deputy Superintendent of Police (SP) Mukesh Chaudhary of Anjar Division of Kutch (East) Police. Speaking to The Indian Express, Dy SP Chaudhary said, “We have still not received the cause of death of the five men as the FSL has not given us its report yet. We have asked them to prioritise this case but will have to wait till the report arrives.” Notably, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had taken cognizance of this case based on a complaint from a local activist. The NHRC had sent a notice to the SP of Kutch (East) and the District Collector on November 12, 2024. When no reply was received from the officials, the NHRC, on February 3, sent a final reminder to both the authorities. Confirming the receipt of the NHRC notice, Dy SP Chaudhary said, “The case is still registered as an AD and we will only be able to proceed further once the FSL report arrives.” FSL Director HP Sanghvi remained unavailable for comment. What was the case? Police officials had earlier said that “Supervisor Siddharth Tiwari and his workers were attempting to clean the tank but something was clogging the outlet. When Tiwari went to the top of the tank and attempted to look inside, he was hit by the toxic gases and fell inside.” Two other men who attempted to help Tiwari out met the same fate. A few moments later, two men who attempted to help the trio also fell inside the tank. The police found no safety equipment on the deceased or in the vicinity of the incident, including Breathing Apparatus (BA) sets, safety ropes or helmets. Other than Tiwari, the deceased included Amjad Khan, Sanjay Thakor, Ashish Gupta and Ashish Kumar.
