Nagpur: Three
labourers, including a carpenter, died inside a
well at Empress City Mall premises on Saturday.
While the police did not rule out possibility of electrocution, poisoning due to gas at the bottom of the 12-feet deep well with knee-deep water is also being seen as a possible reason behind the death of the trio.
The three were rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for treatment. However, the doctors declared them brought dead. The deceased have been identified as Deepak Gauthe, Chandrashekhar Barapatre and Ajay Garodi. Around 15-20 labourers and daily-wagers had died in various accidents on the same premises in the past.
Zonal DCP Rahul Maknikar said that exact cause of death could be ascertained only after the post-mortem which will be conducted on Sunday. “We are now in the process of fixing the responsibilities. Those responsible would be booked under section 304 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder),” Maknikar said adding labour contractor, site supervisor, sub-contractor and contractor are already under scanner.
Gauthe, a resident of Indora, was a carpenter. He was the first to go inside the well. Site supervisor Sameer Takone told police that Gauthe was sent down the well to retrieve a submersible water pump which had been lying defunct. The pump was to be installed inside an adjacent well to pump out water from it. Gauthe was supposed to tie a rope around the pump and climb back so that the machine could be pulled out by the others.
Takone said Gauthe suffered some kind of convulsion inside the well. Seeing him struggling, Barapatre went down to help him but he too started convulsing.
In his statement to police, Takone also claimed that he rushed to bring a JCB machine to rescue the labourers and in the meantime Garodi went down the well to help Gauthe and Barapatre. Garodi too suffered some uneasiness as the three remained inside the well.
The workers present at the Empress Mall premises informed Ganeshpeth police about the incident. The cops then alerted the fire brigade.
The firemen, at first, sprayed water inside the well before starting the rescue operation. The labourers were pulled out and sent to GMCH in a police van.
Till filing of this report, Gauthe’s family members had reached GMCH. The cops were in the process to register an offence.
