A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on Monday inspected Lift 2 of the trauma care building at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where 41-year-old Arup Banerjee was crushed between the doors on Friday.

The team collected a piece of cloth and samples of what appeared to be blood stains from the lift shaft, where Arup’s wife and son had fallen before he did, sources said.

Officials from FSL’s physics and biology divisions worked as two teams on Monday. Some of the officials went to the basement, while others inspected the machine room on the top floor to check the lift’s operations.

Arup’s wife said she and her son fell into the shaft after the lift moved erratically, dragging her husband up. Arup, with multiple bleeding injuries, fell on her inside the shaft.

According to sources, the lift underwent a fitness test on Monday in the presence of police officers, forensic officials, PWD officials and representatives of the lift manufacturing company. The lift’s operation in the basement was disabled, and its functionality on the upper floors was examined.

“The lift gate in the basement was damaged. Hence, the lift was not operated in the basement. It ran through the upper floors. Prime facie, there was no error in the operations between the ground and upper floors,” said an investigator.

The lift was sealed as part of the investigation.

Officials from the Salt Lake-based company that manufactured the lift and is responsible for its maintenance have been summoned to the Kolkata Police headquarters, where their statements will be recorded on Tuesday.

A company official said they have submitted all documents related to the lift since its inception to the PWD, who awarded them the contract to maintain three lifts in the trauma care building.

“If needed, we will once again submit everything
to the police,” an official of
the company said.

Up until Monday, five people, consisting of three lift operators and two security guards, have been arrested in connection with the incident. They have been charged under the applicable sections of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Sources said investigators were checking documents seized from the hospital, including a 54-page staff attendance register and a 177-page breakdown and service maintenance logbook for the lifts.

“We are in the process of finding out if this lift had any history of major breakdowns and if there was any negligence on the part of the company that was maintaining it,” said a senior officer of the city police.

CBI probe demand

A lawyer filed a public interest litigation at the high court demanding a CBI probe into the death at the RG Kar hospital. The PIL also demands compensation for the bereaved family. The petition was filed before the court on Monday. The date of the hearing is yet to be fixed.