Thane: Senior citizen found dead inside elevator duct of building

THANE: A senior citizen was found dead inside the elevator duct of an eight storyed building in Panchpakhadi area, Friday late evening, two days after his family feared him to have gone missing, the police informed.
The Naupada police is in the process of registering a case at the time of filing this report.
Officials informed the senior citizen stayed on the third floor of Jaee building in Raigad Aali locality and had gone to attend a pre-marriage function of a neighbour on the ground floor of the same building late Wednesday.
“Initial investigations hint the man was on his way back home when he must have accidentally opened the grill door and slipped inside the duct when the lift was at an higher floor. Initially, his family suspected him to have been enjoying with neighbours but when he didn’t return the following morning they approached the police,” informed Avinash Sawant, chief at the regional disaster management cell, Thane.
Neighbours and family were desperately trying to hunt for him unaware of the fact that he was lying lifeless under the same lift which they were using for two days. In the meantime few neighbours complained of foul smell emanating from inside the lift duct, Friday evening, and alerted the Naupada police and civic rescue officials who then found the man crouched motionless near the base.
The corpse was retrieved from the duct and sent to the hospital where he was declared dead, informed civic officials.
A senior official from Naupada police said they will register a case after completing initial investigations.