Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested contractor Himanshu Gupta from Rajasthan, more than a month after a 25-year-old motorcyclist was killed after falling into an open pit dug for drainage works in Janakpuri, west Delhi. Gupta was arrested from Udaipur and taken to Delhi for further questioning in the case, police said.
On February 5, Kamal Dayani, a resident of Palam village, fell into a deep hole on the intervening night of February 5 and 6 on a public road in Janakpuri. The excavation work for rehabilitation of sewer lines was carried out under the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) project. The victim was recovered from the hole by firefighters and taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Investigators found that the site lacked basic safety arrangements such as barriers, flashing signs, warning signs and adequate lighting – measures stipulated under the contract and traffic police conditions for road works.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had refused to grant anticipatory bail to Gupta and another contractor, Kavish Gupta, associated with the project, stating that the incident was a “preventable accident” caused by the absence of basic safety measures. The court noted that public roads cannot be allowed to become “death traps” due to negligence during contractual work.
