Delhi coaching centre deaths: Students on hunger strike; owner’s father-in-law grilled

Civil services aspirants holding a protest against the death of three students in the flooded basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle building in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar area began an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday (July 30) to demand action in the case.

More than 400 students have been participating in the protest for the past three days amid heavy police deployment.

“Not taken seriously”

A protesting student said 10 aspirants started an indefinite hunger strike till their main demands, including compensation of Rs 5 crore to the victims’ families, were met.

“We had a brief hope that the administration would listen to us, we would be heard by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) coaching lobby, the authorities, but after four days we have realised that this protest is going nowhere,” said a student sitting on the hunger strike.

“We are not taken seriously. Just because we are aspirants, they think that we will break and after some days we will go back to our studies. We are here to make sure that justice is served,” she said.

Students’ demands

The protesting students are demanding a compensation of Rs 5 crore to the victims’ families, details of the FIR filed, a committee report within a specified time and a prohibition on using basements for libraries and classes in Delhi, another protester said.

The three UPSC aspirants died due to flooding of the Rau’s IAS Study Circle building basement in the central Delhi coaching hub of Old Rajinder Nagar following heavy rain on July 27.

Water from a flooded drain gushed into the basement where a library was set up.

Interacting daily: Police

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police said they were interacting with the protesting students daily to understand their problems.

“We are interacting with them daily and are understanding the problems they face. We are also writing to the authorities concerned regarding their problems,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) M Harsha Vardhan said.

A students’ delegation also met Lt Governor VK Saxena with their demands, he said.

Father-in-law grilled

On Tuesday, Delhi Police questioned the father-in-law of the Rau’s IAS Study Circle owner, and also asked four municipal officers to join the investigation in the death of three students in flooded basement of the coaching institute, officials said.

A senior police officer said they questioned VP Gupta about ownership rights of the coaching centre, adding that they may also call Rau’s IAS Study Circle owner Abhishek Gupta’s wife for questioning.

Police said VP Gupta has transferred the property in the name of his daughter and son-in-law.

Documents being checked

“We are checking all the documents related to the coaching centre. Documents related to ownership of the basement will also be checked,” the officer said.

Police have already arrested Abhishek Gupta and coaching centre coordinator Deshpal Singh in connection with the case. Five people, including four co-owners of the basement of the building housing the coaching centre, have also been arrested.

The driver of an SUV which drove through the flooded street, causing the water to swell and breach the gates of the three-storey building and inundate the basement, was among the five arrested. The SUV was also seized.

Civic officials to be grilled

Abhishek Gupta, along with coordinator Deshpal Singh, was arrested on Monday 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), and 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) after three civil service aspirants died in the flooded basement following rain.

According to another official, police are likely to question four municipal officers, including an executive engineer and an assistant engineer.

List of buildings

About further action against violators, the official said that different directions have been issued to the beat officers of four different police stations — Rajinder Nagar, Ranjit Nagar, Patel Nagar and Karol Bagh.

“We have asked beat officers and the SHOs to prepare a proper list of those buildings having basements and to identify locations where waterlogging is a major problem. So far, more than 60 buildings were identified and the list will be shared with the senior officials of the MCD. The MCD will inform the police if those identified buildings are violating any norms,” said the officer.

Three students, identified as Shreya Yadav, Tanya Soni, and Nevin Delvin, died in the incident after rainwater gushed into basement of the coaching institute building in Old Rajinder Nagar on Saturday evening.

(With agency inputs)