Kottayam | A 49-year-old man employed at a shop in town here has met a tragic end after a portion of a sunshade of a nearby building owned by the Kottayam municipality and previously deemed unsafe fell on him.

Kottayam resident Jino K Abraham died after the sunshade fell on him at around 9 PM on Thursday when he was leaving after closing the lottery shop here where he worked, police said.

Locals said Abraham was taken to a nearby hospital after a portion of the concrete shade of the nearby building where a bar hotel is functioning fell on him.

The police have registered a case and initiated a probe.

The building is part of the Rajiv Gandhi Municipal Shopping Complex, which was directed to be demolished by the Kerala High Court, citing it as being unsafe.

However, locals said the municipality had told the high court that the portion of the building in which the bar hotel is functioning is safe.

The court has considered the report of a technical committee, which said the 50-year-old building is weak.