Tabela labour, father-son duo, die in manhole

A father and son, labourers in a tabela (cowshed), died after falling into a manhole, which they had entered to check the motor of a water pump. Since there was a problem with the force of the water, the duo was sent to check the pump on Friday morning.

“The motor pump was kept inside a drainage manhole by the tabela-owner, which is totally illegal,” said an officer.

The deceased were identified as Chandrakant Rathod,

48, who is the father of Ramesh Rathod, 21, and both had been working at the tabela for the past 10 years. The Rathods reside in Avchitpada, Bhiwandi.

The Bhiwandi Shanti Nagar Police have registered a case of causing death due to negligence 304 (A) of Indian Penal Code.The incident took place at 6 am on Friday when both went down the manhole using a rope to check on the motor pump. The buffaloes had to be bathed and the tabela was not getting water. They slipped down the manhole and drowned to death. The locals heard someone had fallen down the manhole and immediately alerted the local police and fire brigade.

“We received a call around 7 am, after which we rushed to the spot and found two men had drowned in there. We informed the fire brigade and retrieved the bodies within two hours. Primary investigations revealed that both workers were trying to check the water pump motor because the tabela had no water,” said senior inspector Kishor Jadhav.

Their bodies were sent to the hospital for post-mortem. “According to the report, the cause of death stated was drowning and cardiac arrest,” said an officer.

Upon investigation it was learnt that the father-son duo had opened a manhole near the main road. “Chandrakant used a rope to go inside to check on the motor pump and later Ramesh followed as he got no response from his father for some time,” said an officer. The fire brigade was summoned and the workers were pulled out after two hours. They were taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.