Mumbai manhole death amounts to culpable homicide: Speaker
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday called the death of a man in a manhole in Mumbai a serious matter and said it amounted to “culpable homicide”.
Responding to the matter raised by a member, he asked the state government to place a detailed statement in the House on the incident before the day’s proceedings concluded. A man died after being swept into an open manhole amid heavy rains in the city on Thursday afternoon, an official said. The incident occurred in the Chandivali area in the eastern suburbs, where waterlogging had apparently concealed the uncovered manhole.
Fire brigade and civic disaster management teams conducted a search and operation and the man’s body was recovered subsequently, he said. BJP MLA Ameet Satam raised the incident in the assembly and demanded that criminal action be initiated immediately against those responsible.
Satam told the House that the incident occurred on Khairani Road in the area during drainage work being carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). He identified the deceased as Aslam Ishaq Shaikh, a resident of Yadav Nagar in Sakinaka.
Satam demanded that an FIR be registered immediately and that the BMC official in charge of the work be suspended. He went on to add that suspension alone would not suffice and sought the registration of a case of culpable homicide.
