2 suffocate to death in cycle rickshaw shop in east Delhi

Two men allegedly suffocated to death in a basement of a unit where cycle rickshaws are assembled, in east Delhi’s Gandhinagar area on Sunday afternoon, police said.

A senior police officer aware of the case details said it was not immediately known what caused the death, and added that it was suspected that a strong chemical sprayed in the basement may have led to casualties.

The offiicer said they were informed about the incident after a call was made to the Gandhinagar police station at 12.07pm. “The caller said two persons were trapped in a building, and they were not responding. A police team was rushed to the spot,” the officer said.

One of the workers, Abrar, told the police personnel that after the shop opened at 10.30am, Vaibhav Kathuria (22), the son of the owner of the shop, and another worker, Zakir (40), had gone to the basement to look for wooden planks that are needed for assembling the rickshaws.

“However, they slipped on the makeshift stairs to the basement and fell down. When they did not return for some time, Abrar went to check on them and found them lying unconsicious,” the officer said.

The two persons were taken out and rushed to a local hospital from where they were referred to GTB Hospital, where they died,” the officer added.

“On inspection, the basement was found to be very congested. A very strong smell of chemicals was also present. On enquiries it was revealed that a strong anti-termite chemical had been sprayed there,” said deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram, and added that further investigation was going on even as autopsy report was awaited.