Gummidipoondi lift collapse: 3 held, Jayakumar’s daughter absconding

CHENNAI: A day after the death of a Class 11 boy in elevator collapse in Gummidipoondi, Tiruvallur police have arrested 3 persons apart from booking former AIADMK minister Jayakumar’s daughter Jayapriya, one of the owners of the wedding hall where the mishap took place.

While Jeyapriya is absconding, the suspects have been identified as D Thirunavukarasu (32) of Kandigai (supervisor of the hall), S Kakkan (23) of Pulianthope (in-charge of lift operation) and B Venkatesan (40) of Periyapullapuram (the hall manager).

Police said that the lift was meant to carry food items and not people as it was set up as a temporary structure when the wedding hall was built in 2015. According to police, the lift had a carrying capacity of just 300 kg, but there were three people apart from huge containers of food on the day of the accident. The cables snapped due to the overload resulting in a crash and fatality.

The deceased, Sheetal of Wallajabad (a Class 11 student), was a part-time employee of the caterer who took the order at the wedding hall in Pethikuppam near Gummidipoondi.

The incident happened around 8pm, when

Sheetal and two others boarded the lift from the ground floor to reach the second floor to deliver biriyani to the dining hall. When the lift was about to reach the second floor, suddenly the wire snapped, and the car fell on the ground.

Sheetal’s head smashed on the steel structure surrounding the elevator upon impact and died on the spot.

Two others — Vignesh (21) and Jeyaraman (25) — are seriously injured, said police.

The Gummidipoondi Sipcot police registered a case for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.