Two die of asphyxiation in shop's basement in east Delhi

The father of the deceased Vaibhav runs RK Trading company, which deals in assembling cycle rickshaws meant for carrying goods. Vaibhav used to help his father in the work while Zakir used to work in Vaibhav's shop.

New Delhi: Two men died under mysterious circumstances in the Gandhinagar area of ​​New Delhi's Shahdara district on Sunday, police said. It is being suspected that both died of suffocation. The incident was reported to police at 12.07 pm about two men getting trapped in a shop basement. The deceased have been identified as Vaibhav Katheria and Zakir.

According to information, the father of the deceased Vaibhav runs the RK Trading company, which deals in assembling cycle rickshaws meant for carrying goods. Vaibhav used to help his father in the work while Zakir used to work in Vaibhav's shop. When police reached the shop, they met Abrar, one of the workers there. According to Abrar, he, along with Katheria and Zakir had reached the shop around 10.30 am.

They started their work and needed some wooden planks for assembling. So Abrar went to fetch rims. While he was gone, the owner’s 22-year-old son and 40-year-old Zakir went to the basement of the shop and slipped on the makeshift stairs, made with loose planks, the officer said.

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When Abrar came back after five minutes, he saw the two men stuck inside in an unconscious state, police said. He called the police immediately and shouted for help. Both men were taken out with the help of locals, police and were rushed to a hospital, but couldn’t survive, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara)
R Sathiyasundram said.

When it was inspected, the basement was found to be very narrow and suffocating with a strong smell of chemicals, police said. Later, it was conjectured that the basement may have been sprayed with chlorpyrifos, a termite resistance chemical, police said. Zakir was originally from Bihar, he lived with his family in the Osmanpur area in North East Delhi.

PTI inputs