Overview
- Three men identified as Arun, Sandeep and Chand died after inhaling toxic gas while cleaning a septic tank at Marwah Printers in Mundka on Friday, and two of them entered trying to rescue the first before all were overcome.
- Delhi Fire Service crews recovered the bodies after a difficult response that was slowed by traffic and required a fire engine to be rerouted through Tikri to reach the site.
- Police have registered a case and arrested factory owner Suraj Marwah, contractor Neeraj and an employee Jayant; charges include death by negligence, provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers Act and sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
- Families and witnesses say the workers lacked basic safety gear and were paid as contract labour to clean the tank manually after wastewater was pumped out, and investigators are examining whether required mechanical cleaning and protective protocols were followed.
- The deaths revive long-standing concerns about weak sewer infrastructure and enforcement in Delhi’s unplanned industrial areas, where authorities have not rolled out promised septage-cleaning machines and similar fatalities have been repeatedly documented.