Kolkata, March 25 (IANS) Investigations into the elevator death at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata have revealed that the same lift had malfunctioned just seven days before the tragic incident.

According to Kolkata Police, the elevator in the Trauma Care unit developed technical issues on March 13, prompting engineers to inspect and reportedly repair it the same day. However, on March 20, Arup Banerjee, a resident of Nager Bazar in north Kolkata, was crushed between the elevator and a wall in a horrific accident.

The police said that forensic experts are currently investigating how the same hospital elevator malfunctioned again within just seven days, despite having been repaired. Preliminary information has already been shared with the police by the forensic team.

Kolkata Police detectives have also raised questions as to whether the elevator was, in fact, properly repaired on March 13. It was learnt that after Arup Banerjee — along with his wife, Sonali, and their young son — boarded Elevator No 2 in the Trauma Care unit on March 20. The elevator subsequently gave a violent jolt. The police are currently attempting to ascertain the cause of this sudden jolt.

To gather further details, detectives interrogated the PWD personnel who were responsible for the elevator’s maintenance.

Additionally, the elevator engineers, several employees of the maintenance agency, elevator operators from other buildings within the RG Kar complex (beyond just the Trauma Care unit), and several security guards have been questioned. Reports indicate that approximately 30 individuals have been interrogated so far as part of this investigation.

Detectives also spoke with several friends and acquaintances of the deceased, Arup Banerjee, who were present at the scene of the elevator tragedy. To reconstruct the sequence of events, detectives are currently monitoring CCTV footage from at least 70 cameras installed within the hospital premises.

According to police officials, forensic experts, in collaboration with the lift engineers, examined the control panel of the lift at RG Kar Hospital as part of the investigation into the accidental death of Arup. During the course of the investigation, the forensic experts and detective officers learned that a routine inspection of the lift had been conducted earlier this month. At that time, the engineers had informed the hospital authorities that the lift was in good working condition.

However, just a few days later — on March 13 — the lift began to malfunction. It would frequently stall while ascending or descending, and its sensors also started acting up. The lift engineers subsequently arrived and determined that a software glitch had developed. They examined the lift’s motherboard, repaired the unit for the time being and gave the green signal for its operation. The lift resumed functioning; however, just seven days later, the malfunctions began once again.

Police have learned that when Arup and his family members entered the elevator and pressed the button to travel from the second floor to the fifth, the lift instead ascended all the way to the seventh floor. Subsequently, the elevator descended to the basement. During this sequence, the doors shut automatically with tremendous force, causing a violent jolt inside the cabin.

Detectives have raised questions regarding how such a malfunction could occur just seven days after the elevator was supposedly ‘repaired’ — specifically asking whether a ‘green signal’ was issued even if the repairs carried out on March 13 were incomplete. The police stated that they are currently awaiting the forensic report to gather further information regarding this incident.

–IANS

sch/skp