Two persons died while cleaning a septic tank at a banquet hall in east Delhi’s Patparganj on Thursday, the police said. A criminal case has been registered.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Deepak Yadav said the deceased, Lokesh (35) and Prem Chand (40), were residents of Trilokpuri.
A case has been lodged under Section 304(A) of the IPC and Section 9 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers & Their Rehabilitation Act.
The FIR states that Rahul, a housekeeping employee at the banquet hall, called Lokesh to clean the tank and promised to give him ₹3,000. Lokesh brought along Prem. “The duo was called at 7.30 p.m. to clean the tank,” Mr. Yadav said.
Around 10 p.m., Rahul found the two dead and called the police. The bodies were fished out and taken to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital for post-mortem.
‘No safety gear’
The families of the victims, however, claimed that the two were forced to clean the septic tank. Prem’s brother Radhey Shyam said the victims were waiters and had been called for morning service. “In the evening, after work, when they asked the management for their salaries, they were told to clean the septic tank or else they would not be given money,” the brother claimed, adding that he was informed about this by the other men who had worked with the victims on Thursday.
“My brother had never done any cleaning work before,” Mr. Shyam said, adding that the duo was not provided any safety gear.
