CHENNAI: A 39-year-old man died in a freak accident after the hydraulic lift on which he was standing malfunctioned and his head hit the roof of the cinema hall inside a popular mall in Royapettah during the early hours of Tuesday.

The deceased was identified as A Rajesh of Mangalapuram near Perambur. According to the police, he was employed as a maintenance engineer with the cinemas.

During the early hours of Tuesday, Rajesh, along with three others – Dhanasekar, Murugan, and David, were carrying out maintenance work in one of the cinema halls since midnight on Monday.

The engineer and staff were working in Auditorium-4 at the time of the incident. They were in the process of cleaning the screen. Rajesh was using a hydraulic lift to clean the screen, and he was standing about 25 feet high when the lift suddenly malfunctioned and shot upwards, crashing into the roof. Rajesh sustained a severe head injury and collapsed, police said.

Rajesh was rushed to the Government Royapettah hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Anna Salai police registered a case and detained the maintenance staff for questioning. Police are investigating whether the accident happened due to a technical fault in the lift or lapses in safety protocols.