A biker died after falling into a deep pit at an under-construction stretch of road in west Delhi’s Janakpuri area early Friday morning, police said, triggering fresh concerns over safety measures at civic work sites.
Police said a call about the incident was received around 7 am, following which a team reached the spot near Janakpuri District Centre. The biker was found at the bottom of a pit along with his motorcycle. He was declared dead at the scene.
According to the victim’s family, he was returning home from his workplace in Rohini late at night when the accident is believed to have occurred.
Family members said the man had informed them that he was in the Janakpuri District Centre area, but later became unreachable as his phone was switched off. They claimed they searched for him through the night, visiting multiple police stations and hospitals. Police shared his last known location, but he could not be traced until his body was discovered hours later.
Photos from the spot that circulated on social media showed the victim lying beside his Apache RTR 200 motorcycle at the bottom of a deep excavation. He was wearing a helmet, riding jacket and gloves at the time of the accident.
A senior police officer said preliminary investigation indicates that the pit was part of a construction site linked to the Delhi Jal Board and that the area had been properly barricaded. “We are investigating the matter to ascertain the exact sequence of events,” the officer said.
Political reactions
AAP leader and former MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj criticised the Delhi government in a post on X, alleging negligence and linking the death to earlier similar incidents involving open construction pits.
“This tragedy was waiting to happen. Inspite of complaints, this death trap was not properly barricaded to prevent loss of lives. Imagine the family and small kids of this man who must have been waiting all night for him, anxious for him to return home. And they will wait for their lives now,” the AAP leader wrote on X.
The case comes weeks after a 27-year-old software engineer, Yuvraj Mehta, died in Noida’s Sector 150 after his car fell into a waterlogged pit near a construction site on the intervening night of January 16 and 17.