3 arrested over teacher’s death in lift mishap at Malad school

The deceased teacher, identified as Jenel Fernandes, was on her way to the staff room when she entered the lift on the sixth floor. The lift suddenly started moving upwards and she got stuck, and was grievously injured, according to eyewitnesses.

Police and Fire Brigade personnel, who were alerted of the incident, rushed to the spot and pulled Fernandes out. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead.

Fernandes had joined the school in June this year as an assistant teacher.

An inspection was conducted by an inspector from the state Industries, Energy and Labour Department, who recently submitted their report to Malad Police, following which an FIR was registered on September 29.

“As per the contract between the school and the private company, which was in charge of maintaining the lift, the company had to conduct an inspection of the lift every month. But no inspection had been conducted of the lift from June 2022. The lift was not maintained properly, due to which it malfunctioned,” said a police official.

The arrested accused have been identified as Johnson John, 56, manager of St Mary’s English School, Rajaram Rane, 59, owner of the Classic elevators company in Thane and Sushil Choudhari, 57, the service engineer who was looking after the maintenance work of the lift.

Ravindra Adane, senior inspector of Malad police station, confirmed the development, adding, “The accused were produced before a magistrate court, where they were granted bail.”