Two suffocate to death while cleaning septic tank in Gurgaon, probe on

A case has been registered after two men allegedly died of suffocation while cleaning the septic tank of a house near Gurgaon’s Mohammadpur Jharsa village, police said Monday. No arrests have been made yet as the owner of the house is on the run.

The deceased have been identified as Dilip, 45, a sanitation worker, and Mohammad Shahabuddin, 29, a local tailor. According to the FIR lodged on the complaint by Dilip’s son Sorav, the accused Bhim took Dilip and Shahabuddin to his house on Sunday evening to clean the septic tank. “After reaching there, he left my father and Shahabuddin in the pit without any safety equipment. They were cleaning while he stood outside the pit. My father and Shahabuddin died due to the poisonous gas inside the pit,” the complainant said.

Officers at the Sector 37 police station said a fire brigade and ambulances were called soon after the men collapsed, but it took over three to four hours to find them in the tank. The men were rushed to a hospital where they were declared dead by doctors.

A senior police officer said, “We are trying to find the accused but he has left the village and is absconding. Action will be taken against him on the basis of the complaint.”

The families of the deceased have demanded strict action against the accused for allegedly forcing them to clean the tank without any safety equipment. The accused has been booked under IPC section 304A (causing death by negligence).