A day after two labourers died and three were injured while cleaning a septic tank in Rohini’s Bhagya Vihar, family of one of the victims said that they didn’t have enough money to bring his body home, therefore, they cremated him on a ground near Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.

Deepak (29) and Ganesh (35) died while Sher Singh, Rajesh and Rambir are undergoing treatment. The police said that Rambir, the mason, and houseowner Mustafa Gulam forced the other four labourers to enter the septic tank to clean it though the victims had said that they were not trained for the same. The houseowner was arrested on Tuesday.

Sole breadwinner

On Wednesday, Deepak’s mother Sonia said that the family didn’t have money to bring the body home. “My husband is a drunkard and does not do anything. My three sons, including Deepak, worked as labourers. Two of my sons have not been able to find work for the last couple of days. The family was managing with what Deepak was earning. We had no money for his proper cremation also,” she claimed.

The family was handed over the body around 1.30 p.m. and was allegedly informed that they will have to pay extra for the ambulance to take the body to their residence. “We decided not to take it home from Sanjay Gandhi Hospital and take it to Nangloi cremation ground. I took ₹1,000 from my brother and paid for the ambulance. In the presence of four-five family members, his last rites were performed,” Sonia said.

A few metres ahead, Ganesh’s wife Geeta Devi crying incessantly mourning her husband’s loss was consoled by her youngest son Neeraj (8) who maintained a brave front and said, “Maa, ro mat… jo hona tha vo ho gaya [Mother, don’t cry… what had to happen, has happened]”. Ganesh who was the sole breadwinner of his family is survived by his wife and three children, including a daughter.

Cleaning the debris

Geeta claimed that Rambir came and took him [Ganesh] for work around 6 a.m. on Tuesday. “He was told to only take out the debris. He wasn’t told that he had to clean the septic tank,” she claimed.

She, along with families of other victims, claimed that the reason why the victims were pulled out late was due to religious reasons. Those who responded first didn’t go inside the tank because of it. “They said they were observing a fast and if they went inside, they would become unholy,” said Soni, Sher Singh’s wife who was the first kin to reach the spot. Their neighbour Raju then stepped in and went inside to pull the five out.

Abdul Gafar Malik who runs a tea kiosk right opposite the under-construction house where the incident happened, however said, that while no one except Raju went inside, “five of us stood outside and helped him pull the victims out”.

Malik said that Rambir is a “thekedar” [mason] who brought the four labourers because they didn’t have work. “The four of them were cleaning the tank which had debris till the top; they weren’t aware that there was muck and water at the bottom. While cleaning, when they didn’t respond to Rambir’s call for lunch, he went inside to check and fell unconscious. A worker from a plastic factory nearby sensed something amiss and found them inside,” he said.