The body of MC employee, Navjot Singh (27), who was crushed under a hydraulic system-empowered garbage collection vehicle under mysterious circumstances on Friday, was handed over to his family members after postmortem on Saturday.

Navjot Singh was found dead under mysterious circumstances as there was no eyewitness of the incident which occurred at a secluded place in Sector 23 on Friday.

The victim was to marry on October 2.

Officials said that a mechanical inspection of the vehicle will be held soon.

This was second death of an MC employee under similar circumstances, triggering debates around safety standards of hydraulic machines used by the Municipal Corporation. The earlier incident was reported from Sector 19 on May 29.

Meanwhile, the victim’s family members lodged a police complaint alleging foul play behind the death, claiming Navjot Singh was being pressurised to get married to someone else for the last couple of months.

Ranjit Singh, maternal uncle of the victim, says, “I have lodged a police complaint at Sector 22 police post. We have doubts that there is foul play behind the death of Navjot Singh. Somebody did it deliberately. We do not know the name of the person. He is a senior employee in MC Chandigarh and he was harassing my nephew. We have demanded a thorough investigation from the local police.”

Navjot Singh was in his teens when his father passed away. Since then he was looked after by Ranjeet Singh in village Baddali near Kharar. He is survived by his elder sister, who is married, and mother.

Raj Kumar Jalan, a leader of MC workers’ union, said, “There are certain issues related to the operations of the garbage collection vehicle equipped with hydraulic system and the safety of its drivers. After the death of driver Sudesh Kumar in May, we took up the matter with MC Commissioner Anandita Mitra, who had assured us all assistance. The drivers who collect garbage from the markets in Chandigarh should also be given helpers. MC officials withdrew the helpers with the drivers for the market areas due to shortage of manpower.”

A police officer said, “The victim’s family members have lodged a police complaint alleging foul play. But they did not name anyone in the complaint. Navjot Singh had taken the truck to a secluded place. The hydraulic machine was found to be working properly. The vehicle was seized for mechanical inspection. After unloading the garbage, the vehicle was taken to Sector 17 police station.”

Police have initiated an inquest proceeding under Section 174 of the CrPC.

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