 "Delhi Police has so far arrested seven people in the aftermath of a tragic flooding incident at Rau's IAS coaching centre in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar, which resulted in the deaths of three UPSC aspirants last week. PTI")
In the aftermath of a tragic flooding incident at Rau’s IAS coaching centre in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar, which resulted in the deaths of three UPSC aspirants, the Police has so far made seven arrests.
On Monday, the Delhi Police arrested five individuals related to the incident, including four co-owners of the basement where the students allegedly drowned. Additionally, the driver of an SUV, which is believed to have damaged the gate of the building and exacerbated the flooding, was also taken into custody and booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).
The five accused were produced in Tis Hazari Court and have now been sent to 14-day judicial custody as authorities further investigate the tragic incident that led to the deaths of three civil service students, who have been identified as Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Nevin Dalwin from Kerala.
The trio died after the basement of the building housing Rau’s Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar flooded due to heavy downpours on Saturday.
This come a day after the coaching centre’s CEO Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh were arrested, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to seven. Here’s what we know about those who have been arrested.
The driver
On Monday, Delhi Police arrested 50-year-old Manoj Kathuria, the driver of a Force Gurkha car, who allegedly contributed to breaking the gates of the coaching centre by wading through the waterlogged road.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsA video shot by one of the students showed Kathuria driving his vehicle at high speed through the waterlogged road near the coaching institute. According to police, the force of the water displaced by the vehicle broke through the gates, causing more water to gush in and flood the premises. The video further shows the vehicle exiting through the other end of the road.
As per the police, the flow of water towards the institute accelerated after the vehicle passed by.
“Negligence has been established on the part of the arrested driver, who has been arrested in the Old Rajinder Nagar case. He was driving the vehicle very fast, due to which the gate of the coaching centre broke. Before he hit the building gate, a street vendor had tried to stop him,” DCP (Central) M Harshvardhan was quoted as saying in The Hindustan Times.
The police further revealed that SUV driver was dropping off his accountant, who lives nearby, and returning home when he passed by the water-logged road.
Kathuria has been booked under the same sections listed in the initial FIR, including sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), among others. “We are committed to ensuring strict action against all those involved in the case,” the DCP added. Kathuria’s SUV has also been impounded, he further said.
Four basement owners
The four co-owners of the basement, which was given to the coaching centre, have also been arrested by the police on July 29.
According to The Indian Express, those arrested have been identified as Parvinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Harvinder Singh, and Tejender Singh. All four are brothers and have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
The coaching centre’s CEO
In the wake of the tragic flooding, Abhishek Gupta, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the coaching centre, and his coordinator, Deshpal Singh, were arrested by Delhi Police a day after the incident.
According to Gupta’s LinkedIn profile, he has led Rau’s IAS Study Circle since February 2009. Before this role, he worked as an analyst at Watson Wyatt from 2004 to 2006, at Evalueserve, and in corporate solutions at Jones Lang LaSalle from 2007 to 2008. Gupta completed his schooling at Modern School in Delhi and graduated from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.
The FIR filed against Gupta identified him as the “owner” and stated that he was present at the scene when the incident occurred and asked to show “papers regarding the use of the basement as a library, but was not able to show any documents”.
According to police, the coaching centre neither had clearance to use the basement as a library nor a proper drainage system. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) deems commercial activity in basements illegal.
Gupta, a resident of Gurugram, has been booked under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), among others, at the Rajinder Nagar police station.
In the wake of the incident, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi initiated action against institutes for flouting norms. The MCD has so far sealed the basements of 20 coaching centres across Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar that were unlawfully used as classrooms or libraries.
Hundreds of students have also protested in Delhi, demanding that the coaching centre authorities and government officials be held responsible.
With input from agencies