The Pulakeshinagar police registered an FIR against a private contractor and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials concerned on Sunday after two workers were buried alive after a heap of mud collapsed on them when they were digging a storm-water drain on Saturday evening.

According to the police, Sudharshan, 30, of West Bengal, and Shabirullah Islam, 25, from Jharkhand were buried alive. Three others, Nazeem Hussain, Muzafar, and Thaibul, escaped with injuries in the incident at BG garden in Pulakeshinagar.

Passers-by rescued the three workers before the Fire and Emergency Services personnel, and the police arrived.

The police said that the work was awarded by the BBMP to a private agency, which employed around eight workers to dig up a trench to construct the storm-water drain.

The contractor had not provided any safety measures to the labourers and had been booked for death due to negligence, a senior police officer said.

The post-mortem of the two bodies were conducted on Sunday and handed over to the family members.