Victim’s family in airport canopy collapse case considers legal action in matter

New Delhi: The family of a 45-year-old taxi driver is considering bringing legal action against those accountable for his demise after part of a canopy at the Delhi airport fell during torrential rains. On Saturday, Ramesh Kumar's body was cremated at the crematorium in Naharpur.

The police had handed over the body to his family after postmortem at the Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday, a day after the incident.

Kumar’s wife Asha and their daughters were inconsolable as the body arrived home. Younger daughter Bhawana (18) fainted after looking at her father’s body.

The family members, however, said they will take a decision on filing a different case in the matter.

“We received the body around 12.30 pm after postmortem and we returned to our home. He was cremated at the Naharpur crematorium,” Ramesh’s 25-year-old son Ravinder said.

He said that the family members will discuss and decide whether to file a case against those responsible for his father’s death.

The Delhi Police on Friday filed an FIR under sections related to death by negligence after the collapse of the roof of Delhi Airport’s Terminal-1 killed one person and injured six others. Officials said the Delhi Police has started the probe and will fix responsibility.

Ramesh Kumar was waiting for some passengers at the IGI T-1 early Friday morning when a portion of a canopy covering the departure area collapsed on parked cars amid three hours of heavy rain in the national capital. Six people were also injured in the incident, prompting authorities to suspend flight departures.

“The incident occurred at around 5 am on Friday, but we were asked to sit at the police station for more than three hours. We repeatedly asked police teams to take us there where my father was getting treatment. But after three hours we were told that he died,” Ravinder said after the cremation on Saturday.

Ravinder’s acquaintances, relatives and neighbours gathered at the house to console them.

On Friday, Ravinder had told PTI that he was sleeping when he got a call from the police station asking him to come to the Delhi airport’s Terminal 1 immediately.

Ravinder, who is also a cab driver, was sleeping after finishing his night shift when he got to know about his father’s death on Friday.

Ramesh is survived by his wife Asha, two sons, Ravinder and Ashish (22), and two daughters, Rashi (21) and Bhawana (18) — all of whom stay at a rented house in the Vijay Vihar area of Rohini close to Sector 7. Asha works as a domestic help in Rohini.

Upset over the compensation amount offered by the government, Ravinder had said that he had recently purchased the vehicle for Rs 5 lakh and had to make a down payment of Rs 1 lakh.

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu, who visited the airport and took stock of the situation at T1, announced a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the family

With PTI inputs