76-year-old man falls to death after door opens but lift fails to arrive

Guwahati: In a bizarre incident reported from Muradnagar in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district, an elderly man died in a freak accident in the Moti Residency housing society on Thursday evening when the door of the elevator duct opened but he stepped into thin air and fell four levels into the basement.

The man in question, 76-year-old Kedarnath Gaur, a retired engineer with the electricity department, was found unconscious in the basement of the society by a resident. Although he was alive when he was found, he died during treatment shortly afterwards at a private hospital.

At the basement, too, the door of the shaft was open but the lift hadn't arrived, which prompted the resident to look down into the duct with his phone torch when he saw the man who had fallen through. As per reports, a portion of the metal shaft had to be cut through to pull out the elderly man.

It is believed that Gaur was crushed under the lift every time it came down to the basement. When he was found at the base of the elevator duct, the lift was on one of the floors above. Since towers in the housing society do not have CCTV cameras on every floor, it could not be said for certain how exactly the accident happened.

As per reports, Gaur had stepped out of home for an evening walk on the society premises around 5 pm on Thursday when the mishap occurred.

After this shocking incident, residents of the Muradnagar housing colony where at least 500 families are living staged a protest at the maintenance office on Thursday night and Friday morning, accusing the management of negligence.

"We have been facing problems with the lifts every now and then. Many times, residents get stuck in the lift. Despite numerous complaints, the maintenance team has done little to repair the elevators," one of the residents complained to the media.

Meanwhile, a senior official from the maintenance team said they were trying to find out how Gaur fell into the shaft. Amit Kumar, the SHO of Muradnagar police station, said Gaur's body had been sent for an autopsy and the reports are awaited.

On the basis of a complaint by the deceased's family, an FIR has been registered against the builder, Vishwanath Aggarwal, and his two sons Aseem and Palash under Section 304 of the IPC.

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