Victims were forced to clean sewer tank; 1 held

NEW DELHI: The investigation in the manual scavenging case revealed that the victims were forced to enter the sewer treatment plant for cleaning after getting an order from the supervisor. However, the Delhi police have arrested a 32-yearold engineer on Monday after finding his negligence in the case. Also, the police will send notices to the private companies to submit documents regarding the case. The police sources claimed that big private companies might be booked in the incident.

Initial probe revealed that the five deceased had denied entering the sewage plant but the supervisor threatened to them to oust from their jobs.

The family members also claimed that the deceased was not supposed to clean the sewer. “My brother's shift ends around 2 pm but on Sunday he was forced to work and also to get inside the sewer which led to his death,” said Angad, brother of Vishal, who died on Monday during treatment. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Monika Bharadwaj claimed that they have arrested Ajay, who is one of the engineers from the company named JLL.

Krishna, the relative of deceased Pankaj, also said the same thing. “I live in Gurugram and Sunday was his off day, so I told him to come to my house but he told me that his off was cancelled and was called by his supervisor Sunil Singh, who had threatened for his job,” said the relative.

The deceased Umesh worked with the company called Crest and his main job was housekeeping then why he was forced to enter the sewer plant, questioned his cousin Santosh, who was at DDU mortuary. The investigators claimed that they will scan the contract details of the deceased and also the agencies, who were given the work of maintenance of the building. “We will send notices to all the companies including DLF and JLL,” said a senior police officer.

Sources claimed that initial investigation revealed that the maintenance of the building had been given to a private company who further divided the work into five to six agencies. A case under IPC sections 7 & 9 of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013, Sec. 3(1)(j) & 3(2)(v) of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been registered.