Two men die after falling into septic tank in Delhi’s Dwarka

According to initial enquiries, the two were dismantling the scaffolding of the under-construction septic tank when they fell in and were suffocated by toxic fumes. They were rushed to Indira Gandhi Hospital but were declared dead at 1.56 pm, said police.

Police said Subhash had been assigned the construction work by a construction material supplier and a resident of Indira Park in Palam Colony.

“A case under Section 106(1) (causing death by negligence) of the BNS has been registered at Chhawla police station,” a senior police officer said.

Further investigation is underway to ascertain if there were any safety lapses, police said.

Subhash’s family, however, claimed they received two versions of events on how he died.

“When the labourers came to our house to tell us (of Subhash’s death), they said he was electrocuted,” claimed Rajkishore Mandal, his brother-in-law.

“They said they had constructed the tank the day before, and it was dry. I don’t know how an electrical current was running through it…,” he said.

Mandal claimed that Pradeep went inside the tank first and was electrocuted. When he didn’t come back up after some time, Subhash began to get worried and went down the shaft to check on him.

However, when Mandal and his family rushed to the construction site, bystanders told them a different story, they claimed. “… I saw there was around one foot deep sewage inside the hole… people told me the two had suffocated and died. We’ll wait for the post-mortem,” said Mandal.

However, Pradeep’s brother-in-law Chander Shekhar claimed, “Pradeep was lowered into the hole; there was no ladder or anything to hold. It’s not possible that he was electrocuted.

Shekhar claimed Pradeep had been sent into the shaft to collect some planks which had fallen in. Subhash followed him soon after, and when neither emerged, the other workers on site began getting worried.

Subhash, who hailed from Banka district in Bihar, had moved to Delhi shortly after the lockdown had eased after the Covid pandemic. According to Mandal, he was an expert at refurbishing. Pradeep, who is originally from Chapra district in Bihar, had moved to Delhi around six months ago. “He had come to Delhi to visit my wife (his sister), who was ill and admitted to a hospital… he liked Delhi so much that he told us that he wanted to stay back and find some work here. He had been living with us ever since,” said Shekhar.