A 57-year-old liftman in Om Towers — a 16-storey building on Jawaharlal Nehru Road in the heart of the city — accidentally fell into the lift shaft on Wednesday morning when the elevator under maintenance started moving upward and was crushed under the lift as it came down suddenly in the next few seconds.
Abdul Rahim was pulled out of the shaft and taken to SSKM Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Police said the lift was one of the four elevators the building has and had its sliding gate open at the time of the accident.
A senior officer at Shakespeare Sarani police station said Rahim was standing outside the elevator when it was on the ground floor. A cable of the elevator was being repaired on an upper floor.
“He had stepped inside the open lift to take out a stool when suddenly the lift was pulled up and he apparently lost his balance. A part of his body was outside the elevator. He tried to come out but fell into the lift shaft as the elevator moved upward. But before he could come out of the shaft, the lift came crashing down on him,” said the officer who spoke to several witnesses.
The officer said it was still not clear whether the elevator accidentally crashed or was sent back to the ground floor as part of the maintenance work.
The building has more than 50 offices. People who work there said the four elevators are extensively used, especially during office hours.
Many complained that despite repeated reminders, the lifts are not maintained properly.
Rahim, who had been working as a liftman for many years, was a resident of Ekbalpore, the police said.
Personnel from the disaster management group of Kolkata police extracted him from inside the lift shaft.
Till Wednesday evening, the police said they did not receive any complaint. However, sources said, a specific case will be initiated based on the findings of a preliminary inquiry and the circumstances which caused Rahim’s death.