Pune: The Dehu Road police on Saturday arrested a labour contractor on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with an accident in which two construction workers were killed at Talawade on Friday. The police have also booked the operator of an earth-moving machine and the owner of a thermal company where the incident occurred.Sachin Rathod (30) and his wife Koma Rathod (25) died in the incident, while Manohar Chavan (36) sustained serious injuries. Chavan later lodged a complaint with the Dehu Road police.Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.Police investigations revealed that the accident occurred after an earth-moving machine hit an under-construction compound wall while soil was being filled.An officer from the Dehu Road police said the construction of a brick compound wall around a 15ft-deep ditch was underway at the company’s premises in Jyotibanagar, Talawade. The labour contractor had hired daily-wage workers for the work.“The three workers were inside the ditch plastering the wall. An earth-moving machine engaged in sand-filling work on the other side struck the newly built wall, causing it to collapse on them,” the officer said.Rathod and his wife died on the spot, while Chavan was seriously injured.The officer said the contractor and the company owner had not provided safety gear such as helmets and safety jackets to the workers. The contractor has been arrested and a search is on for the machine operator and the company owner.
