Police arrests IAS coaching centre owner, coordinator as angry students protest

Angry students protested and raised slogans against authorities outside a coaching centre on Sunday after three civil service aspirants died in a flooded basement in West Delhi following heavy rains the previous night.

After seven hours of rescue efforts, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) concluded its search at the coaching centre in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar area, where the three aspirants died due to the flooding, officials said on Sunday.

On Sunday, the Delhi Police arrested the owner and coordinator of the coaching institute in connection with the fatal incident. They have been booked under charges of culpable homicide, among others.

“So far, we have detained two people—the owner, Abhishek Gupta, and Deshpal Singh, the coordinator of the coaching centre,” Deputy Commissioner of Police M Harsha Vardhan said.

“We have registered an FIR at Rajinder Nagar Police Station 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 buildings) and 35 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and launched an investigation,” the DCP said.

“Search and rescue operation ended. Total three bodies were recovered from the basement. All were identified and we have informed the family members about the incident,” the DCP added.

A preliminary investigation suggests that the basement housed a library where several students were present.

Meanwhile, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Sunday directed the MCD commissioner to take strict action against commercial activities being run in basements. She also called for an inquiry to identify if any MCD officers were responsible for the tragic incident.

Notably, the bodies of two female students and a male student were retrieved from the coaching institution following a rescue operation by the NDRF, local police, and fire department.

The deceased have been identified as Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala, police said.

Their deaths have irked fellow civil service aspirants, who held protests against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the coaching institute’s management over their negligence.

“MCD is responsible. They did not ensure safety measures. Both MCD and RAU’s IAS are at fault. They should be held jointly liable. We have been protesting since last night but no higher authority has spoken to us yet. We expect that the death toll may be higher,” Yuvraj, a UPSC aspirant, told ANI.

Another UPSC aspirant, Aman Shukla, emphasised that the “illegal” operation of libraries in basements should be stopped.

“We demand that, firstly, all these illegally operating libraries in basements be shut down. MCD should address the issue immediately. Last time when it rained, cars were floating. In one year, they haven’t done anything… No senior official has visited this place till now,” Shukla said.

Another student criticised the response to the incident.

“MCD calls it a disaster, but I say this is negligence. Knee-deep water gathers in half an hour of rain. My landlord has been asking the councillor for days to clean the drain… Our immediate demand is transparency in the number of injuries and deaths,” he told ANI.

Notably, Saturday’s fatal accident comes just days after a 26-year-old civil service aspirant was electrocuted to death when he touched an iron gate following heavy rain in central Delhi’s Patel Nagar area.