3 min readNoidaUpdated: Jul 27, 2026 08:25 AM IST
A sanitation worker and a security guard were suffocated to death inside a sewage treatment plant at a residential society in Noida, police said on Sunday. Four people have been apprehended for questioning, according to officers.
The incident occurred on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday at Eldeco Society in Sector 150. The sanitation worker has been identified as Shashikant Sharma (40), a resident of Karauli district in Rajasthan, and the security guard has been identified as Akash (22), a native of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Ravi Shankar Nim, DCP, Greater Noida said, “On Sunday, we received information that two people had died during the cleaning of a sewer tank. Police personnel and the fire brigade team reached the spot and took them to Kailash Hospital. Later during the treatment, they were declared dead. We have registered an FIR based on the complaint by the families of the victim and have detained four people for questioning.”
According to officers, Sharma lost consciousness inside the tank located on the ground floor of the society while cleaning it. Akash had gone inside it in an attempt to rescue him.
According to other security guards at the site, Akash who used to stay with his family in Kundli, had started working at the site nearly three months back, while his father also worked as a guard at the same place.
“He usually worked during the day, but he was working extra hours and also doing night shifts also. I came to know about the incident in the morning when I came for duty,” said another security guard who did not wish to be named.
Remembering him as “a young energetic soul”, he said, “We used to eat together. He was young and still learning, but very disciplined. One friend in the morning told me that yesterday while he was on duty, the contractual worker was cleaning the STP. When he did not come up for a few hours, a maintenance officer came rushing to call Akash, who then went inside to rescue him. But he too did not return. Another guard was able to get inside partially to help them,” he said, adding that the incident has left them stressed.
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“Is this the value of a life?” he questioned while looking at the towering buildings.
