3 DIE IN GOVANDI SEPTIC TANK: TREASURER HELD FOR NEGLIGENCE

MUMBAI: Govandi police arrested the treasurer of a residential building for negligence on Tuesday after a contractor and his two workers suffocated to death due to inhaling toxic gas, while cleaning a septic tank, around eight to nine feet deep, with allegedly no requisite safety equipment, on Monday.

The accused, Pawan Vishwanath Palav, 40, is the treasurer of Morya Co-operative Housing Society, where the mishap took place.

Police investigation revealed that the victims — private contractor Vishwajeet Devnath, 32; and his workers Santosh Prabhakar Kalsekar, 45; and Govind Sangram Chortiya, 34 — were plumbers and did not know how to clean septic tanks, which turned out to be fatal.

“The accused awarded the work to the trio, who did not have any prior knowledge about such a cleaning work. The three were also not provided with any safety equipment, thereby jeopardising their safety,” said Pranay Ashok, deputy commissioner of police and Mumbai Police spokesperson.

“The accused was not even present when the work was underway. Negligence led to the death of the workers,” Ashok said.

On Monday around 11.30am, Devnath entered the tank, followed by Kalsekar and Chortiya As they did not come out after an hour, the residents informed the fire brigade and the police.

The fire brigade rushed to the spot, brought out the three men and took them to the nearby Shatabdi Hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival. The fire brigade personnel checked oxygen levels in the tank, which were very low, the police said.

The police had first registered a case of accidental death, but later invoked section 304 (a) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for causing death by negligence.

The accused awarded the job to the trio, who did not have prior knowledge of such work. They were also not provided safety gear. PRANAY ASHOK, DCP