Chennai, May 17 (IANS): Even as the state and Central governments have been taking measures to prevent manual scavenging and promoting robots for doing the same, a 40-year-old man died of asphyxiation while cleaning a septic tank near the SIPCOT factory in Tamil Nadu's Ranipet district.

Tamil Selvan, according to police, on Tuesday entered the septic tank that was 15 feet deep and after some time there was no response from him. Three others who were with him immediately jumped into the septic tank and found him unconscious. These three workers also fell unconscious and the owner of the tannery unit, G. Senthil Murugan immediately alerted the police and fire force unit.

All the four were taken to the hospital by around 12.15 a.m., where Selvan was declared brought dead.

The three others, who are admitted to the ICU at the Government Taluk Hospital, Walajah, are N. Mahendran (49), T. Raja (47) and S. Ramadoss (45).

A case has been registered at the Ranipet police station under the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The police have also invoked Section 304-(ii)( Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).