Contractor arrested after two sewer cleaning workers suffocate to death at Bopal society

The Ahmedabad Police on Wednesday arrested a plumbing contractor in connection with the death of two migrant workers, who suffocated while cleaning a sewer line at The Garden Bungalows society in Bopal last week.

The arrested accused has been identified as Mukesh Thakur, a contractor who had undertaken a maintenance contract worth ₹1.50 lakh for sewer cleaning and drainage connections in the society. Officials from the SC/ST Cell confirmed that Thakur was taken into custody following an FIR filed at Bopal Police Station.

The incident occurred on September 5, when workers Vikas Kori (20) and Kanaiya Kori (21) — both from Amethi district in Uttar Pradesh were asked to go down into a sewer line without protective equipment. While operating a high-pressure machine to clear the line, both men collapsed due to suspected gas inhalation.

Fire brigade personnel were later called in to rescue them. The two workers were rushed to City Plus Hospital in Science City, where doctors declared Kanaiya dead at 3.40 pm. Vikas, who had been working in Ahmedabad for the past three years as a plumber, died later that night during treatment at 10.25 pm.

Vikas’s father Lal Bahadur Chotelal alleged that the contractor had shown gross negligence by forcing the men to work inside the sewer without basic safety equipment, despite being aware of the risks. Police said this amounted to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

“The accused contractor failed to provide helmets, oxygen masks or protective suits to the workers while assigning hazardous sewer-cleaning work. Both men died due to suffocation. Following registration of the complaint, the accused has been arrested, and further investigation is in progress,” said police official