NOIDA: A 37-year-old man died on Sunday after three of his neighbours allegedly pushed him off the top floor of a four-storey building in Noida after a quarrel on who would first use a common tap supplying municipal water.

The victim, Istrafil Hussain, worked in a garments shop in Noida and had gone to take water from the tap around 7.45am when Jahangir, a neighbour, objected, according to the police complaint made by Hussain's family. As an argument broke out, Jahangir was joined by his brother-in-law Sabbir and brother Nazeer. The trio allegedly roughed up Hussain before pushing him off the fourth floor.

Locals residents rushed Hussain to a government hospital where he was declared brought dead. Jahangir and Sabbir have been arrested but Nazeer is on the run.

The building, at Harola in Sector 8, is a tenement of rooms, each occupied by a family. Each floor has 29 rooms and two municipal taps supplying water. A 1,000-litre tank stores water for each floor. Hussain lived in a room on the fourth floor. Jahangir, Sabbir and Nzeer live on the same floor.

Police said Hussain hailed from Bihar and lived in Harola with his wife, mother and son. He was the family's sole breadwinner. Jahangir works with a computer hardware company at Nehru Place in Delhi while Sabbir and Nazeer work in a garments company in Noida.

"Hussain's wife has lodged a complaint, police alleging Jahangir, Sabbir and Nazeer thrashed her husband and then pushed him from the fourth floor," said a senior police official. An FIR has been lodged at Sector 20 police station. Police said they are also examining the legality of such buildings, many of which built in clusters in Harola, which are over-burdened with people but lack basic amenities.

