The Ghaziabad police on Wednesday booked the office bearers of the Apartment Owners’ Association (AOA) in connection with an incident in which three girls got trapped inside an elevator for about 25 minutes on the eleventh floor of a high-rise in Crossings Republik Township, officials said.
The incident took place on Tuesday and a case has been registered against Chitra Chaturvedi, president of Assotech Nest AOA and Abhay Jha, AOA secretary, after a complaint from a girl’s father, said police.
The video of the incident, sourced from the CCTV footage went viral on social media that shows three minor girls aged 8-9 were trapped in an elevator and crying for help.
In the video, the girls can be seen crying, panicking and pressing the elevator buttons after it gets stuck. The video also shows the distressed children, attempting to force open the doors of the lift.
The FIR was registered after a complaint from Shivam Gehlot, the father of one of the girls, who alleged laxity in maintenance by the developers and named the two AOA office bearers.
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Residents of the housing society also alleged the lift broke down because of poor maintenance.
Following the complaint, an FIR under IPC section 287 (for negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 336 (for rash or negligent act endangering human life or the personal safety of others) was registered at Crossings Republik police station late Wednesday night.
“The incident took place when my daughter boarded the lift from the 20th floor and her two other friends took the lift on the eleventh floor. Thereafter, the lift developed some snag and all three got stuck. They were trapped for 24 minutes,” said Shivam Gehlot.
“The high-rise has the provision of CCTV but the surveillance room gets locked by 6pm after the staff leaves. It was with great difficulty that I managed to get the CCTV footage of the incident and later I approached the police. The AOA office bearers have the responsibility for the maintenance works,” Gehlot added.
When contacted, AOA president Chaturvedi said that she was busy with her official work and requested the response be taken from the AOA secretary.
Abhay Jha, the secretary, said that the incident occurred as the lift developed some technical snag. It was an unfortunate incident, he said, adding that he was informed by the maintenance staff that some time was taken to rescue the girls.
He said that the incident was not reported to him or the president and directly an FIR was registered with the police.
“Upon knowing about the incident on Wednesday afternoon, I issued a show cause of the maintenance agency and also the lift maintenance agency. The lift agency staff arrived on Thursday and are taking up all remedial measures,” Jha added.
Inspector Abur Rehman Siddiqui, SHO, Crossings Republik police station said, “We have initiated an inquiry and an investigation is on.”
