Man dies after falling into elevator shaft; hotel owner,manager arrested

A 61-year-old man from Bhopal,in the city to accompany his ailing friend to a hospital,died on Friday after he fell into the elevator shaft of a South Mumbai hotel from the third floor,the MRA Marg police said.

The police arrested its owner and manager on the charges of negligence. According to police,Umashankar Sharma,an Indian Oil dealer in Bhopal,had on Thursday gone to Nagpur along with friend Hira Jaiswal to meet his relative Manohar Sharma (55). “The three had come to Mumbai on Friday. They had to visit a hospital regarding Jaiswal’s hip ailment,” senior police inspector Sanjeev Kokil said.

They reached the Sealord Hotel at P D’Mello Road. Umashankar tried to get into the elevator but there was no lift through the outer door opened. He fell into the shaft and died,police said. Umashankar was rushed to Bombay Hospital,where he was declared dead. “If there is no elevator on a floor,the doors are not supposed to open. This is a case of negligence. After conducting inquiries,we have arrested hotel owner Ram Khanna and manager Liyaqat Ali Khan who was in charge of the maintenance of the elevators,” Kokil said.