Delhi IAS coaching centre tragedy: Basement owner among 5 arrested, MCD seals 13 other centres

By Team Asianet Newsable | First Published Jul 29, 2024, 11:13 AM IST

Five more accused, including a driver who allegedly damaged the gate of the coaching centre causing water to enter, were arrested on Monday. With this, a total of seven persons are now in custody after three IAS aspirants drowned in the flooded basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Delhi’s Old Rajender Nagar.

Delhi Police arrested five more persons, including the owner of the basement in connection with the death of three aspirants due to flooding in the basement of a UPSC coaching institute in the Old Rajinder Nagar area of the national capital, officials said on Monday (July 29). The arrested persons included the owners of the basement and an individual who drove a vehicle which appeared to have damaged the gate of the building.

The owner and coordinator of the coaching centre were arrested and booked for culpable homicide among other charges. Police identified the owner as Abhishek Gupta and the other accused as Deshpal Singh, both of whom have been sent to 14-day judicial custody. The FIR has been registered under sections 105, 106(1), 115(2), 290, and 3(5) of the BNS.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has sealed 13 coaching centres in the Old Rajender Nagar area as it launched action against illegally run classes. Protests against the civic body continued while the Rau’s IAS Study Circle, where the flooding incident took place on Saturday evening (July 27), has also been sealed. This specific institute was operating a library out of its basement, in contravention of its Delhi Fire Services (DFS) no-objection certificate, rather than utilising it for storage.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) recovered the remains of two women and one guy from the basement following seven hours of vigorous rescue efforts. The victims were named by the police as Tanya Soni from Telangana, Navin Dalwin from Kerala's Ernakulam, and Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh's Ambedkar Nagar.

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In a statement released on Sunday, July 28, the coaching facility expressed its "deep sadness" over the fatalities. "Wholly dedicated to providing support for the continuing enquiries into the unfortunate event. We are very sorry by the passing of these bright young people who were getting ready to serve our country," a statement said.

Expressing his anguish over the deaths of the students, Delhi L-G VK Saxena said such incidents point towards criminal neglect, lack of maintenance by agencies and departments.

I am deeply anguished by the death of 3 Civil Services aspirants due to water logging in the basement of a coaching centre and that of another student due to water logging related electrocution. That this should happen in the Capital of India is most unfortunate & unacceptable.

— LG Delhi (@LtGovDelhi)

“…I have asked the Divisional Commissioner to submit a report, covering every aspect of the tragic incident by Tuesday. While nothing can bring back the precious young lives lost due to apathy of the administration and criminal misconsuct of those running coaching institutions, responsibility of those who caused the loss of lives, will be fixed and guilty will be brought to book,” he said in a post on X.

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