Lift collapse cause still not clear: Delhi Police

A day after four persons were killed after a hydraulic lift malfunctioned and collapsed at a construction site of the Delhi Development Authority's residential flats in outer Delhi's Narela, police are yet to ascertain the reasons behind the collapse. Police said that out of the four, a post-mortem was conducted of only one deceased on Tuesday morning while the family members of the other three deceased were on their way from the villages to collect the bodies and are expected to reach the national Capital by Tuesday night. No arrests have been made so far.

On Monday evening, the deceased workers identified as Sonu (25), Pramod (30), Sonu Ram (27) and Raj Kumar (25), all natives of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh were in a hydraulic lift used at the construction site for lifting construction material when the lift collapsed all of a sudden. The lift was open from all four sides. As the lift came down, four labourers fell out of it and came under the machinery and the construction material it was carrying.

According to the police, they are planning to rope in an expert to check the failure of the lift as it is a matter to be investigated and only a detailed investigation in the matter can highlight the reason for its failure.

"After a thorough investigation, we will be able to come to the conclusion as to what led to the failure and who to be blamed for it. While post-mortem of only one deceased could be carried out as the family members of the other three are yet to reach Delhi. The bodies will be handed over to the family members after post-mortem on Wednesday morning," said Rajneesh Gupta, DCP (Rohini).

When asked who was involved in the negligence behind the incident, the senior officer claimed that they will question the officials under whom they were working and once the investigation is completed things will be clear. Police said that a case against BG Shirke company has been registered under Section 287 for negligent conduct with respect to machinery and under Section 304A for causing death due to negligence.