Rau’s owner held; coaching centre vows cooperation amid political blame game

NEW DELHI: Absence of drainage system and safety measures, and use of basement for commercial activities in violation of norms led to the death of three civil services aspirants at a coaching centre in central Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar area, officials and students said on Sunday.

The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested the owner and the coordinator of the coaching centre — Rau’s IAS Study Circle — and booked them for culpable homicide and other charges, a Delhi Court send them to 14-day judicial custody.

A political blame game began as the BJP and the Congress attacked the AAP government, calling the incident a “murder”.

Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala died after the basement of a building housing the coaching institute was flooded following heavy rain on Saturday evening.

Students alleged that the incident took place because of people getting trapped in the basement due to malfunctioning of entry-exit biometric system. An MCD official also said that the biometric system failed.

According to the officials, the three-storey coaching institute, surrounded by residential and commercial establishments, had permission to use the basement as a store room, but it was being used as library in violation of the rules.

An FIR was registered at Rajinder Nagar police station under sections 105 (culpable homicide) and 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings), among others, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

So far, two people — coaching centre owner Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh — have been arrested.

According to the FIR, Gupta accepted that there was no drainage system in the basement, which resulted in the death of three people.

According to police sources, the basement gate, which was closed, was damaged by the high pressure of the rainwater, allowing water to flood in. Multiple teams are now investigating the incident. The Delhi Fire Services have been asked to provide a report on the building and its basement, which was being used as a library without proper authorization.

CCTV footage is being reviewed to determine the sequence of events. Investigators will identify individuals near the institute at the time of the incident and record their statements. The probe has revealed two main reasons for the incident, the failure to clear drainage: The roadside drain was not cleared before the onset of the monsoon, leading to water accumulation and subsequent flooding and the lack of a water drainage system, the basement, where the library was illegally operated, lacked a proper water drainage system.

Deputy Commissioner of Police M Harsha Vardhan announced that an FIR has been registered at Rajinder Nagar Police Station under several sections, including: Section 105 (culpable homicide), Section 106(1) (death caused by rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, Section 115(2) (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), Section 290 (negligent conduct with respect to building maintenance), Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The FIR, based on Sub-Inspector Dharmender Kumar Sharma’s statement, indicated that the coaching center’s owner, who was present during the incident, failed to produce necessary documents for operating a library in the basement and admitted that there was no drainage system.

Following a PCR call about the flooding, Assistant Sub-Inspector Birender was dispatched to the scene. He found the area waterlogged, with the parking area under three feet of water. He immediately informed the SHO of Rajinder Nagar police station, who alerted the fire department and the National Disaster Response Force. It took authorities over five hours to pump out the water during the rescue operation.