2 drown in Burari swimming pool; owner, caretaker held

Two men drowned in a swimming pool in Burari that was being operated without licence, following which the facility's owner and its caretaker were arrested, the police said today.

The incident happened yesterday around 8.10 PM when Amit (24) and Neeraj (23) had gone to the swimming pool near Joseph & Mary Public School at PS Burari around 8.10PM, they said.

The police said they received the information that the men had consumed liquor and had been taken to a hospital. The two were declared brought dead at the hospital, the police said.

Their bodies were sent to the Subzi Mandi mortuary for post-mortem. Amit used to work as an water purifier mechanic while Neeraj was a student of School of Open Learning.

During inquiry, it was found that no safety measures like life jackets, pool fencing, drain cover, pool alarm etc. were in place at the swimming pool, said Harendra Kumar Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police (North).

A case was registered and further investigation revealed that the swimming pool was in the final stage of construction and no licence had been taken by the owner of the premises for its operation from the authorities concerned, he added.

During investigation, it was found that Vikram Ujjainwal had taken the lease of the premises, including the swimming pool, from Mangesh Tyagi.

Ujjainwal and Ramesh, the caretaker of the pool, were arrested in the case, the officer said, adding they have sent a letter to the Department of Labour for inspection of the site and swimming pool.