The four people died on Wednesday morning after they inhaled toxic gas inside the septic tank in Jai Malhar Building in Kadamwak Wasti in Haveli taluka, located around 15 kilometres from the city centre. The wife of the 36-year-old tenant, who died trying to rescue three workers involved in repairing and cleaning sludge in Pune, has alleged in her First Information Report (FIR) that her husband was forced to enter the tank by the owner of the building.
The four people died on Wednesday morning after they inhaled toxic gas inside the septic tank in Jai Malhar Building in Kadamwak Wasti in Haveli taluka, located around 15 kilometres from the city centre. Three of the deceased were involved in the repair and manually removing the sludge accumulated in the septic tank and the fourth died while trying to help them.
Police identified the deceased as Rupchand Navnath Kamble (35), who was hired by the building owner as a contractor for the desludging work, his two aides Sikandar Popat Kasbe (44) and Krushna Datta Jadhav (25), all residents of the Kadamvak Vasto area, and tenant Padmakar Maruti Waghmare (36).
Late on Wednesday, based on the complaint filed by Waghmare’s wife Rajnandini, the police filed an offence against the building owner Bhimaji Kalbhor under Indian Penal Code section 304-A—pertaining to causing death by negligence—and relevant sections of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavenger and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. Kalbhor was placed under arrest on Thursday, said senior inspector Rajendra Mokashi.
Rajnandini said in the FIR her husband was sleeping at home after completing his night shift as a security guard at an educational institute in Pune when the three labourers got trapped inside the septic tank. She had closed the door from outside and left to drop her son at his school. When she returned, she was told that Bhimaji had opened the door and forced her husband to enter the septic tank.
She added in the FIR that one of the people who had gathered at the site, Amar Bhosale, entered the tank and managed to take an unconscious Waghmare out. Rajnandini also said that no protective gear and safety equipment was given by the owner to the three workers and her husband.
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