The death toll in the incident of factory collapse following a compressor blast in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar rose to seven on Friday, the police said. They are yet to make arrests in the case.
Around 8.45 p.m. on Thursday a two-storey ceiling fan factory went up in flames followed by a wall collapse. The debris fell on to the adjacent scrap godown that led to the death of seven persons, including a minor and left eight others, including a woman and the factory owner injured.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Monika Bhardwaj said that the deceased have been identified as Ramphal (45), Munger (55), who were from the same village in Uttar Pradesh; Rajesh (40) and his son Anshu (6), residents of Basai Darapur; Ajay Bahadur (19), Ajay Kumar (22), and Sanjay Prasad (18). The injured have been identified as factory owner Ankit Gupta, Gangesh, Munna, Surender, Ashok, Rakesh, Bacchai Patel and deceased Anshu’s mother Manju.
Sources said that the building’s owner has been identified as Anil Kumar Tyagi who had given it on rent to Mr. Ankit, who had been running the factory.
Locals have alleged that the factory was running illegally in a residential area and that a toilet was sealed about three days ago. However, police sources denied knowledge of the same.
“Investigation has revealed that some part of the plot was sealed but it is yet to be known whether it was part of the factory. Notices have been issued to Inspector, Factories, and other departments to ascertain whether the owner had necessary documents or a sealing notice had been issued,” said a senior officer.
The police have also questioned Mr. Tyagi and Mr Ankit’s relative Sumit Gupta, who, the workers said, was running the factory along with Mr. Ankit. “No document as such has come to the fore so far that can prove that Mr. Sumit and Mr. Ankit were business partners,” the officer said.
The families of the victims were informed and most of them flocked to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital, and Safdarjung Hospital. However, post-mortems of two persons were conducted on Friday.
The deceased and injured persons include those who were working overtime in the factory just to earn ₹150 for four hours.
Their shift was over at 6 p.m. on Thursday, but they had planned to stay till 10 p.m. to earn some extra money.
Kin mourn loss
The deceased include a man who had joined the factory just three days back to save travel time from Bawana, a man whose son is an aspiring policeman and another who got engaged last month to get married in May.
Ajay Bahadur, who hailed from Nepal and was a resident of Basai Darapur, used to work in a factory in Bawana but had quit as it was too far from his house, his family said. The last memory of him his father Budh Bahadur has is from Thursday afternoon, when he came home for lunch. “He had joined this factory on January 1 only. He would work overtime just to earn some extra money,” the father said.
Bahadur’s friends said that the group had earlier planned to go to Vaishno Devi on January 1.
Munger, who belonged to Uttar Pradesh, used to work and reside at the scrap godown with Ramphal and Rakesh. His relatives said that he had always yearned to see his son become a police officer. “His son Nageshwar is undergoing training in Rae Bareilly for a post in the UP Police,” said Naresh, his nephew.
Victim Ajay Kumar had got engaged on December 18 last, his family said. “He was about to get married in May. He has worked in this factory for several years,” his brother Rohit said.
Deceased Ramphal’s daughter was about to get married this month, a relative, who did not wish to be named, claimed. “Celebrations have turned into mourning,” he added.