Four arrested for death of two sanitation workers inside nullah

Four people, including two labour contractors and two supervisors, have been arrested for the death of two sanitation workers who were electrocuted while carrying out routine water flow tests in a sewerage tunnel in Mumbai. The private labour contractor, who brought the workers to the city but has not been arrested, has verbally agreed to pay compensation of INR10 lakh each to both victims and transport the bodies to their village in Bihar.

Mumbai: Four people, including two labour contractors and two supervisors, were arrested for the death of two sanitation workers, Sudhir Das, 30, and Ramkrishna, 25, inside a nullah near Shivaji Nagar bus depot in Govandi on June 24.

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The incident occurred on Saturday evening on a 90-feet road when Ramakrishna and Sudhir were carrying out routine water flow tests and were electrocuted. The sewerage tunnel was constructed recently, and it was not even open.

As per the preliminary investigation, Ramakrishna went inside to check water flow and was electrocuted and as soon as the other, his uncle Sudhir, reached to pull him out, he suffered the same fate, said Hemraj Rajput, deputy commissioner of police, zone 6.

The arrested have been identified as Asjad Ahmed Arshad Siddique, Krishna Purohit and Promod Mishra and Ashwin Chaudhary. The labourers were working for the company Samrudhi and J&S Enterprises.

The private labour contractor, who brought the workers to the city but has not been arrested, has verbally agreed to pay a compensation of ₹10 lakh each to both the victims and transport the bodies to their village in Bihar.

“The police have been putting pressure on the family to take the bodies. However, till the contractor does not transfer the money or promise to do so in writing, we will refuse to take the bodies and protest outside Shivaji Nagar police station,” said Yashodhara Salve, from the Jan Haq Sangharsh Samiti (JHSS).

Till Saturday evening, the contractor had not shown up at the police station or court. Their bodies are currently at Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar.

“A group of 25 people from our village were bought here for work by the private contractor. We were supposed to go back a month ago, but the seth (contractor) stopped five of us forcefully by withholding our pay for three months, around ₹45,000,” said Rahul Kumar, Ramkrishna’s elder brother and Sudhir’s nephew.

“I was sent to Virar for a welding job, but my father, uncle and brother were told to work in Shivaji Nagar. He must have refused to work because of the rain, but they forced him. They don’t care for our safety,” added Kumar.

Ramkrishna’s father, Niranjan Das was doing the same work a few roads away. The workers were identified as belonging to the Scheduled Caste from Sirnia village, Khagaria district in Bihar. They were given accommodation in a shack under a bridge in Shivaji Nagar.

Sudhir is survived by a wife and two daughters, aged three and one and a half years, in his village. Ramakrishna had completed his 10th grade and had planned to study further.

Bahadur Shaikh, a social worker in the area linked to the Samajwadi Party, said he was called to the spot after the incident and helped pull the bodies out. He said, “The bodies could not be seen, but we were able to locate them with bamboo sticks. The water was not very deep, not more than four feet.”

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