A horrifying scene unfolded at a coaching centre in Delhi on Saturday when water gushed into its basement – being used as a library in violation of rules. Several students were trapped and three died in the waterlogged basement.
A video, seemingly shot hours before the bodies of the three students were recovered, shows many students rushing out of the flooded basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle in west Delhi Rajendra Nagar.
Water was gushing down the stairs as the students waded through water, it showed.
A man can be heard asking the students to come out of the basement quickly. "Kids, come up quickly. Quick, quick… Is anyone left behind? Is anyone down there," he asked.
Three students – Tania Soni (25), Shreya Yadav (25) and Navin Delvin (28) – were indeed left behind and their bodies were recovered after a seven-hour long rescue operation.
Authorities said they received a call about waterlogging from the Rau's IAS Study Centre around 7 pm on Saturday.
Even as the police are probing the cause behind the flooding, locals blame the poor drainage system in the area. They say it was heavily clogged with silt and overflowed leading to a flood-like situation following rains.
Another video showed the road in front of the coaching institute severely waterlogged with waist-deep water levels.
The Delhi Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) and formed multiple teams to probe the incident. The investigations so far have indicated multiple lapses on the part of its owner and civic authorities.
Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg said that there was no option to de-water the basement.
The three-storey coaching centre for the preparation of civil services had its building plan approved by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) department in 2021 by falsely showing that it was being used as a store room, as per the building plan and the No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the fire department.
"The building has fire NOC, but in the NOC they had shown the basement as a store room. The management of the institute was using the same room as a classroom or library which is a violation of the NOC," Mr Garg said.
Several students stated protests to demand justice for the civil service aspirants who lost their lives and demanded action against those responsible for the deaths and compensation for their families.
Meanwhile, the institute said they "are deeply saddened by the loss of these promising young individuals who were preparing to serve our nation with dedication and commitment".
"RAU's IAS Study Circle is fully committed to supporting the ongoing investigations into this tragic incident. We are cooperating fully with the relevant authorities and agencies to ensure that all necessary information is provided and that the investigation proceeds with the utmost diligence," read the statement.
The owner and the coordinator of the Rau's IAS Study Circle have been arrested and charged under culpable homicide.