Man falls into lift shaft from 12th floor, dies in Rajendra Place

NEW DELHI: A 30-year-old office assistant working for a law firm died after he allegedly fell into the shaft of a lift from the twelfth floor of a multi-storey commercial building in central Delhi’s Rajendra Place on Wednesday.

Police said the mishap took place after the lift developed a technical snag around 11am.

The victim, Trilok Joshi, worked with the law firm office located on the thirteenth floor of Pragati Towers where the incident took place. Joshi’s leg got stuck in the elevator’s door when he was getting off the lift on the twelfth floor. The lift was programmed to serve only till the twelfth floor. Suddenly the elevator started going up due to which Joshi lost balance and fell into the shaft.

Police said Joshi’s body hit the floor and he suffered multiple injuries on the head and other body parts. Other people, who were using the lift, raised an alarm and informed the security personnel.

“Joshi was rushed to a nearby hospital in a critical condition but his life could not be saved. Doctors told us that he was brought dead,” said a police officer. A case under section 304 A (causing death by negligence) has been registered against unknown persons at the Prasad Nagar police station. “A probe is underway,” the officer said.

The preliminary investigation into the incident revealed that the elevator was already packed to capacity when Joshi got in on the ground floor. The police have learnt that the elevator was installed in the building some 30 years ago. It had reportedly been developing technical snags of late.

The building has three lifts. The occupants of the building had complained against technical defects in the lifts.

“In June this year, one of the lifts had fallen down but thankfully as no one was inside it,” the officer said quoting one of the occupants of the building. The offices in the building have around 1,500 employees and hundreds of visitors every day.

A native of Uttarakhand, Joshi lived in Delhi with his family. He is survived by his wife and two children, including a 2-month-old.