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Two arrested day after three UPSC aspirants die in flooded basement illegally used as coaching centre library
Building owner and coaching centre coordinator booked for culpable homicide, sent to 14 days judicial custody; cause of the flooding, initially thought to be a burst pipe, now being probed; three other basements in the area sealed
A student holds a poster during a protest on July 28, 2024 outside Rau’s IAS Study Circle where three students died after the basement of the building was flooded following heavy rain at Old Rajinder Nagar in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: PTI
A day after three UPSC aspirants drowned in the basement of a private coaching centre, Rau’s IAS Study Circle, the Delhi police arrested the coordinator of the centre and the owner of the building, and booked them for culpable homicide. The accused have been sent to 14 days of judicial custody
The deceased have been identified as Shreya Yadav, 25, from Uttar Pradesh; Tanya Soni, 25, from Telangana; and Nevin Dalvin, 28, from Kerala, police said.
Also read | Tanya’s family on college drop-off trip receives devastating news of her death
The students died in a library which was “illegally” running in the basement of the coaching centre, according to Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Mayor Shelly Oberoi. “This building was built in 2021. Library or other commercial activity was not allowed in its basement. Only car lift, parking and storage were allowed here,” Ms. Oberoi said. The basement had flooded after a drain burst following heavy rains in the area on Saturday evening.
Other basements sealed
The mayor also ordered the MCD Commissioner to take “immediate” action against all coaching centres running commercial activities in basements against the rules. The MCD sealed three basements operating illegally in the Rajinder Nagar area on Sunday evening, according to an official statement.
The cause of the flooding is still being investigated. “It was told that a drain passing in the front of the building burst, and like a flash flood, water entered the basement and the students got trapped,” Ms. Oberoi told journalists. She and another MCD official, however, said that none of the other buildings next to the centre had faced any flooding. Later in the evening, the MCD said in a statement, “The so-called bursting of drainage outside the coaching centre is not conclusive and the matter is under investigation.”
Student protests
Since Sunday morning, students from different coaching institutes and residential complexes have been protesting the deadly negligence behind the tragic deaths. Holding placards saying, “Old Rajender Nagar is not safe”, students said such a disaster was waiting to happen. Many flagged the issues of poor drainage systems and frequent water logging inside basements in the area. A number of shopkeepers have also shut their shops and removed their boards from basement shops.
The police have formed multiple teams to investigate the incident and have asked the Delhi Fire Services to provide a report on the building and the basement which was being used as a library, but was mentioned as a “store room”, a senior police officer said.
According to senior police officers, the basement was around eight feet below ground level and more than 20 students were present inside it on Saturday evening. While the basement gate was closed, it got damaged after water gushed in at high pressure due to the heavy rains, an officer said.
‘No drainage system’
An FIR was registered based on the statement of a sub inspector (SI), who said that the owner of the coaching centre, who was present at the time of the incident, had failed to produce the documents required to run a library in the basement. He also accepted that there was no drainage system in the basement, the FIR stated.
The FIR was registered under Sections 105 (culpable homicide), 106(1) (death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 115(2) (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing building) and 35 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which recently replaced the Indian Penal Code.
Some students protesting on a main road near the coaching centre were removed by the Delhi police later in the evening. “Around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, some students blocked both carriageways of Pusa Road near Karol Bagh metro station, which is an arterial road with many hospitals in the vicinity. They were repeatedly requested to not block the main road and since they refused to clear the main road even after an hour, they were removed from there, considering the massive public inconvenience and nearby hospitals,” DCP (Central Delhi) M. Harshavardhan said.
Eight hours of pumping
Delhi Fire Services Chief Atul Garg said that they had received a call of waterlogging on Saturday evening, adding that it had taken eight hours to completely pump the water out of the basement.
Reacting to allegations of a late response by teams from the fire services and the National Disaster Response Force, Mr. Garg explained: “First, we had to pump out water but when we tried to do that the [water from the] road kept going to the basement. It took a lot of time… Once the water on the road receded, we pumped out the water from the basement and the water level reduced to eight feet from 12 feet. Then we retrieved the bodies of the students… Now, we have pumped out all the water and the rescue operation is over… How water has gone inside and why they were running a class inside the basement, those things are a matter of inquiry.”
Political blame game
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued to attack the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power both in the Delhi government and the MCD, over the incident and demanded the resignation of AAP Revenue Minister Atishi.
“Cases should be registered against the Delhi government, Delhi Municipal Corporation, Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Jal Board, Power Discom and the owner for investigation and action. For an impartial investigation, it is necessary that the concerned Minister Ms. Atishi resigns and the local officials of these departments be suspended,” BJP New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj said.
Senior AAP leader and Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that there was a “big conspiracy hatched” against the people of the national capital. He alleged that, despite complaints of corruption in de-silting works submitted with evidence, Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena had not taken any action against the officers concerned. In Delhi, the transfer and posting of officials fall under the ambit of the L-G, who is appointed by the Union government.
The L-G said in a statement that he has asked the Divisional Commissioner to submit a report by Tuesday. “While nothing can bring back the precious young lives lost due to apathy of the administration and criminal misconduct of those running coaching institutions, responsibility of those who caused the loss of lives will be fixed, and the guilty will be brought to book,” his statement said.
The coaching centre said in a statement that it was “fully committed to supporting ongoing investigation into the tragic incident”.
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