Overview
- Two contract repairmen employed by Savariya Motors were found unconscious inside a nearly 20‑foot stormwater sump in Kodungaiyur and were later pronounced dead at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.
- The men have been identified as M Naveen Kumar and M Asmath Basha and were at the site to fix a faulty electric motor that had failed during recent trial testing.
- Accounts differ on cause of death, with investigators considering asphyxiation from accumulated toxic gases and the possibility of an electric shock, and postmortem and forensic tests are under way to resolve the cause.
- Local officials and witnesses reported several safety lapses at the repair—workers entered by ladder instead of being lowered by a safety chain and nearby drain lids were not opened to disperse gases—while the GCC says supplier representatives carried out the work without proper safety arrangements or corporation presence.
- The Greater Chennai Corporation has filed a police case under the statute for unnatural death, said it will file an FIR against the contractor, and has ordered an inquiry led by the Regional Deputy Commissioner while disciplinary action targets two assistant engineers.