Mumbai: 19-year-old labourer dies after getting stuck in grinder, eatery owner booked

A police officer said, “Mahesh has been working in Mumbai for the past seven years and he is employed at the eatery owned by one Sachin Kothare, who provided daily accommodation and food to all his employees. The workers would prepare raw materials by grinding flour and cutting vegetables between 11am and 3pm in a nearby rented room, following which they would go and sell Chinese items at their eatery,” said the officer.

Apart from Suraj, others did not have much experience in grinding flour. Suraj did not have any knowledge as he had never used a grinder in the past, said police.

On Saturday, while others were working at the eatery, Kothare asked Suraj to go and bring the raw materials from the room. “He went to the warehouse but did not return for a long time. Kothare later got a call from someone who then asked his employees to go to the room as Suraj got stuck in the grinder. And after we reached, we found that half of Yadav’s body was stuck in the grinder,” Mahesh said in his statement to the police.

When his colleagues failed to pull him out, they informed the local police and fire brigade about the incident. With their help, Suraj was pulled out of the grinder after which he was rushed to KEM Hospital, where the medical officer declared him dead before admission.

The Dadar police then recorded the statement of other employees and after conducting preliminary inquiry, Kothare was booked for negligence as despite knowing that Suraj did not have any experience of grinding flour using a mixer grinder, he did not take any safety measures nor provide any safety gear to his employees.