Police fail to arrest culprits behind food delivery rider's death

20-year-old Naveed died after he 'accidentally' fell into elevator shaft of Karachi's Clifton apartment two months ago

KARACHI:

Culprits responsible for the death of a rider of a food delivery company, who fell from the faulty lift of a multi-storey apartment in Karachi’s Clifton area two months back, have not been arrested yet.

20-year-old Muhammad Naveed was killed after he fell into the elevator shaft of the apartment in Boat Basin area of Clifton, where he went to deliver food to a customer who lived on the upper floor of the building.

A case of the incident was registered at Boat Basin police station containing charges of unintentional murder on the complaint of Saeed Ahmed, father of the deceased.

Two months have passed since the tragic incident occurred but the police have not arrested anyone.

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Naveed, a resident of Mehran Town in Korangi, would work along with his uncle Abdul Malik at a food delivery company in Defence Phase-2 as a rider.

On April 26, he went to the Kehkashan Apartment for food delivery, which was also recorded in the CCTV cameras installed at the building entrance.

According to the deceased's uncle Abdul Malik, Naveed was handed over a Rs5,000 note by the customer and was asked to get the change after he delivered the order.

The rider was also asked to leave his mobile phone with the customer as security as he went downstairs to get the change.

However, when the victim opened the door of the lift he fell into the elevator shaft of the apartment as the lift was not there due to the fault.

His disappearance was discovered several hours later.

Later, Boat Basin police station registered a first information report (FIR) into the case on May 5, 2021 and initiated an investigation into the incident.

The father of the victim had accused the elevator contractor, maintenance in charge and apartment union officials of negligence, while also maintaining that similar incidents had taken place in the past,

SHO Model Police Station Clifton Inspector Pir Shabbir said that police had seen CCTV footage of the apartment which showed that the lift was not functioning properly.

Investigating Inspector Rana Latif, in charge of Boat Basin Police Station told The Express Tribune that during the course of investigation, the supervisor and operator of the apartment elevator found to be negligent and both are still at large.

He added that police have completed their investigation and submitted their findings in the court and the search for the suspects is underway.