A 25-year-old private bank employee died after allegedly falling into an open pit dug by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Joginder Singh Marg in west Delhi’s Janakpuri late on Thursday night, police said on Friday.
Police said the man’s body and motorcycle were found inside a pit nearly 20 feet deep. A case has been registered under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Joint Commissioner of Police (Western Range) Jatin Narwal said the police control room received a call at 8:03 am reporting a man and a motorcycle lying inside a pit on Joginder Singh Marg. The fire department was alerted soon after. “Both the man and his motorcycle were pulled out of the pit by around 8:30 am. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead,” Narwal said.
The deceased was identified as Kamal Dhayani, a resident of Vikaspuri in west Delhi. He was employed with a private bank in Rohini, the officer added. According to police, Dhayani’s family approached the Vikaspuri police station at around 12:30 am on Friday, stating that he had not returned home and had stopped responding to calls after 11:30 pm, when he last spoke to them. He had told his family he was on his way back home on his motorcycle.
The family later contacted the Janakpuri police station, following which officers traced Dhayani’s mobile phone location. “The phone location showed near the Janakpuri district centre. A head constable, along with the deceased’s brother, searched the area till early morning, but he could not be located,” Narwal said. Dhayani’s body was discovered in the pit later in the morning.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has ordered an investigation into the incident. Delhi’s home, education, power and urban development minister Ashish Sood said he had visited the spot and met the bereaved family. “I am deeply hurt by the tragic death of a young man who fell into a pit during the ongoing Jal Board work on Joginder Singh Marg. The Chief Minister and the entire government stand with the family in this hour of grief. Instructions have been issued for an investigation, and the guilty will be given strict punishment,” Sood said in a post on X.
Opposition leaders criticised the government, alleging negligence. AAP leader and former MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said the tragedy could have been avoided.
“This tragedy was waiting to happen. Despite complaints, this death trap was not properly barricaded. Imagine the family and small children waiting all night for him to return. They will now wait for him for the rest of their lives,” Bharadwaj wrote on X.
The incident comes weeks after a similar fatal accident in neighbouring Noida, where 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta died after his car fell into a waterlogged pit near a construction site in Sector 150 on the night of January 16–17, raising renewed concerns over safety measures at construction and utility work sites.
