A 21-year-old labourer suffered fatal injuries to his shoulder and chest on Wednesday after the shaft of a machine came crashing down on him at a factory in south Delhi's Asola, the police said.

The deceased was identified as Madhu Ram, a resident of Ambikapur village in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district, they said.

Police said they were informed about the factory accident at about 1.17 pm.

The property was rented by one Manish Kumar Gupta who had employed some labourers for running the plastic bottle crushing machine, the operation of which also requires some manual handling, they said.

"Ram was working on the machine along with another labourer. As he leaned partly towards the machine to settle the crushed bottles, the shaft came down extensively cutting right side of his shoulder and chest. He died on the spot," Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) said.

A case was registered at Maidan Garhi police station and Gupta has been arrested, he said.

The body has been preserved at the mortuary of Safdarjung Hospital, police said, adding that further probe is underway.