Housing Society Official Held For Death Of Septic Tank Cleaners In Mumbai

An official of a housing society in Govandi area in Mumbai has been arrested in connection with the death of three labourers while cleaning a septic tank in the residential high-rise, a police official said on Tuesday.

The labourers, hired privately, died of suffocation on Monday while they were cleaning the septic tank in the Maurya Society, a 22-storey building of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, located in Ganeshwadi area of the eastern suburb, he said.

Following the mishap, the society's treasurer, Pawan Vishwanath Palav, 40, was arrested late Monday night, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone VI) Shashikumar Meena said.

Palav was arrested after it came to light that he hired labourers who did not have any experience of cleaning a septic tank, another police official said.

"The accused asked the labourers to enter into the septic tank without providing them with any safety gear. The accused was not present at the spot when the victims were cleaning the tank," he said.

The accused has been booked Indian Penal Code Section 304-A (causing death by negligence), Meena said.

After the three labourers - Bisavjit Debnath, 32, Santosh Prabhakar Kalsekar, 45, and Govind Sangram Chortiya, 34 - entered the septic tank on Monday, they got trapped inside, he earlier said.

The labourers were later brought out of the tank with the help of fire brigade and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel who rushed them to a hospital where they were declared dead on arrival, he said.