Court sends factory owner and two others to custody over Mundka septic tank deaths

On Saturday, a Delhi court remanded a factory owner, a contractor, and an employee to two weeks of judicial custody following the deaths of three men who were forced to manually clean a septic tank without safety gear at a factory in the Mundka Industrial area on Friday.

The accused have been identified as factory owner Suraj Marwah, employee Jayant Singh, and contractor Neeraj. The Delhi Police arrested the three men on Friday and booked them under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Police identified the three deceased workers as Arun Singh, 38, Sandeep Paleram, 32, and Chand, 42.

According to the initial police investigation, Marwah had given Neeraj a ₹20,000 contract to clean the septic tank at his unit, named "Marwah Printers". The victims were originally hired to clean the tank using suction pipes and a waste loader mounted on a tractor.

However, after pumping out the wastewater, the accused allegedly refused to pay the workers and forced them to descend into the tank to remove the remaining waste and mud manually. A senior police officer stated that the victims were promised ₹3,000 per person for the manual work, while the rest of the contract amount was Neeraj's commission. Investigators found that the septic tank had not been cleaned for more than a year.

Police reported that the victims entered the tank without masks, ropes, or gloves, and died within minutes. The Delhi Fire Services received an emergency call about three trapped people at 12:03 p.m. on Friday. Due to traffic congestion, the rescue team reached the factory at 12:45 p.m.

Vikram Singh, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer), said that action will be taken against all the accused involved in the case.

Family members of the deceased said the men had never cleaned septic tanks manually before. Narendra Singh, the elder brother of Arun Singh, said his brother was supporting two families on an ₹11,000 monthly wage. Surendra, the uncle of Sandeep Paleram, said Sandeep was saving to buy a house and is survived by his wife, a 10-year-old daughter, his parents, and a younger brother.