ISLAMABAD, March 19: Two daily wage workers at a five-star hotel were found dead under unexplained circumstances on Monday, leading to registration of criminal charges against top level staff of the hotel, police said.

The incident was shrouded in mystery, as the postmortem conducted at around 12:30pm suggested that both the workers haddied 10 to 12 hours earlier, the police added.

Besides, the hotel staff also gave contradictory statements to the police as some said the bodies were found in a boiler roomwhile others stated that they were recovered from a store room and swimming pool.

The Secretariat police registered a criminal case against the staff of Serena Hotel, including its general manager, a sub-engineer and security officer under PPC 322; 201 and 34 in response to a complaint lodged by Haji Ashfaq Ahmed, the father of one of the victims.

The hotel staff took the bodies to Polyclinic but the causality medical officer asked them to inform the police, saying examination on the bodies would be conducted only on the police request.

The police said the hotel management informed them about the incident at around 12 noon.

When the police reached the hospital, those who had brought the bodies there failed to give satisfactory reply to queries, including why the bodies were removed from the spot without informing the police.

They told the police that the deceased - Tahir Naqash and Raja Yasir - were daily wage workers at the hotel and were found dead in a store on the second floor of the hotel. They also said they were suffocated to death due to lack of oxygen caused by sometechnical problem.

The police shifted the bodies to the mortuary where during autopsy it was revealed that the workers had died about 10 to 12 hours earlier and had foam discharged from the mouth and nose.

Besides, they had also vomited blood. Medico-legal experts said such signs were caused due to poisoning, including inhaling of poisonous gas. Samples were collected from the bodies for chemical examination.

The investigators later visited the hotel and got contradictory statements about the incident, the police said, adding they were told that the bodies were found from a boiler room on the second floor by another labourer. They also said the workers had died of suffocation.

Another statement said they were found dead in a store on the ground floor near the swimming pool where chlorine was stored.

Both the workers had gone there for sleeping on Sunday night. Yet another statement said the bodies were found in the swimming pool.

The police said Raja Yasir, 25, a resident of Shakrial Town, was a contractual plumber in the hotel while Tahir Naqash, a native of Bagh, was his helper.

They had come to the hotel on Sunday for work and did not return to their private residences outside the hotel which they did every day.

The police said though the cause of death was yet to be ascertained, the hotel management was found involved in hiding and tempering with the evidences which was also a criminal act.