LIVE | Coaching centre deaths: Delhi police form multiple probe teams

According to Delhi Police, this is how the series of events unfolded on Saturday. The flooding incident happened at 6.35 pm. Rainwater suddenly filled the basement of the coaching centre. As soon as the information of the incident was received, Delhi Police ASI Birendra immediately reached the spot. Fire department officials received a call around 7.10 pm. According to a fire officer, they immediately started pumping water out of the basement. But in such a situation, they needed the help of divers. Therefore, NDRF was informed. The rescue operation was carried out with a big torch. The first student's body was taken out around 10.40 pm. The second body was taken out around 11.10 pm. The third body was found by the NDRF around 1 am.

Opposition parties in Delhi on Sunday termed as “murder” the deaths of three civil services aspirants due to flooding of a coaching centre’s basement and the incident a “man-made disaster”, as they attacked the AAP-led MCD and government over the tragedy.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party, however, sought to blame the BJP over the incident, saying though it was in power in the municipal body for 15 years, it neglected the city’s drainage system.

“Our government has been in power for the past one year and we are working on drainage. I do not want to get into any blame game. I want that there should be an impartial investigation and strict action taken against those responsible,” Rajinder Nagar MLA and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said.

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva termed as “murder” the deaths of the students and said they had come to Delhi to build their future but became “victims of corruption”.

The (waterlogging) issue was brought to the notice of Pathak on July 22 and then again on July 24 by locals but “he did not do anything” about it, BJP’s New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj claimed and said the incident could have been avoided.

“Pathak and the Kejriwal government’s negligence led to the death of the three students,” she said.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said this is a “manmade disaster”.

“The students had come from far-off places to study in Delhi. But what is the system for separating illegal structures from legal structures? Is the MCD looking into it? What about the drainage system? All these questions plague these controversies around these deaths,” he said.

Last week, a student — a civil services aspirant in Mukherjee Nagar — died after touching a live wire, he said. Is this how students coming to Delhi should be treated, Khera asked.

The Congress leader said action has to be taken, accountability has to be fixed, and Delhi cannot be seen as such an “insensitive” city.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj shared a video on X of a meeting on waterlogging and de-silting of drains. In the meeting, the Delhi chief secretary, the MCD commissioner and the PWD principal secretary were also present.

In a post on X in Hindi, he said, “Even though it is not my department, but even the minister concerned will agree. These officers cannot be transferred by the government and action cannot be taken against them. Only LG (Delhi Lt Governor) sir can take action.”

BJP leader Sachdeva said, “Nobody is answering how the library was established in the basement. There was an incident in Mukherjee Nagar, the Delhi government had launched an investigation. What has happened to the investigation? Delhi Minister (Atishi) has still not reached the spot (Rajinder Nagar). The locals were asking for cleaning of drains. Whoever is responsible should be punished. What is the fault of students?”.

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav visited the area. “Students are holding an agitation and they are not listening to politicians. Their agitation is right because they have lost their colleagues and friends. Those who are responsible should be punished. I have also come here to participate in their fight and will not leave till justice is served,” he said.

Pathak attacked the BJP, saying it neglected the city’s drainage system for 15 years, and stressed on the need for a transparent investigation into the incident. Rather than indulging in a political blame game, solutions need to be discussed, he said.

“Not only in Rajinder Nagar but in many areas of Delhi, many people are using basements for commercial activities. It is being said that the coaching institute where this incident took place was waterlogged. Children were studying in the basement. During this time, a vehicle passed by and the basement door broke after being hit by it and the basement got filled with water,” he said.

Pathak asserted that the drain near the institute had been de-silted. Still, it should be investigated with complete transparency, he said.

“Whoever is responsible for this, strict action should be taken against them. I met the CEO of the DJB (Delhi Jal Board) and MCD officials 20 days ago. I talked to them about de-silting and cleaning drains. I am demanding super shaker and dicky machines, but where 10 machines are to be installed, only two machines are coming,” he said.

“Machines are coming for two hours. There is a shortage of that. If action is not taken against the business activities and coaching institutes running in the basement against rules, the entire system will be ruined. The incident happened due to waterlogging, tomorrow some other incident can happen,” the AAP leader said.

The BJP was in power in the MCD for 15 years, but Delhi's drainage system is in shambles, he said.

The Rajinder Nagar MLA said the BJP will do politics over it but the AAP will not get into its politics.

“We have to look for solutions,” he said. Entire Delhi has to be covered and every house needs to visited, and if commercial activity is going on in the basement of any house, it will have to be sealed, Pathak said.

Pathak said he will discuss this issue with ministers. “Strict action should also be taken against the officials of the DJB. Twenty days ago, I met the CEO of the DJB and the officers of MCD. Sewers are blocked at many places, pipelines are broken at many places, they need to be replaced, but no action is being taken on this,” he added.

The BJP has hit out at the AAP-led Delhi government over the coaching centre flooding incident, calling it a “murder”, and demanded the resignation of Water Minister Atishi.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva also demanded Rs 3 crore compensation for the families of the three students who died in the flooding incident.

“This is a murder, not any accident,” said Sachdeva.

“This happened due to record-breaking corruption of AAP that is ruling both the Delhi government and the MCD. If there is any shame left, both minister Atishi and AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak, who is in-charge of MCD, should resign,” he said at a press conference.

Sachdeva also alleged “criminal negligence” by agencies, including the MCD and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), and demanded registration of cases against the officers concerned.

No politician who is responsible for this heart rending-incident should be spared, he said.

BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj said that since July 22, locals were complaining about waterlogging due to the choked drain in the area but AAP MLA Pathak did nothing for cleaning it.

She said that the death of young students was a clear case of “criminal negligence” for which the officers concerned should be booked.

Pathak, in a statement, said that Delhi’s drainage system is in a shambles. The reason for this is that the BJP was in power in MCD for 15 years, he charged.

“The BJP did not do any work on drainage. We have been in power in MCD for the last one year and we are working on drainage. I do not want to get into any blame game. I want that there should be an impartial investigation and strict action should be taken against those responsible,” he said.

Pathak further said that until strict action is taken against commercial activities going on in basements across the city, such incidents will keep happening, he said.

Of the three civil service aspirants who drowned in the flooded basement of a coaching centre, one was a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University and another at Delhi University.

Tanya Soni, 21, who had come from Telangana, was a native of Bihar’s Aurangabad and a student of Delhi University, a friend, who did not wish to be named, said.

She had been staying at a women’s hostel of DU’s Maharaja Agrasen College and had had taken admission in the coaching institute one and a half months ago, her friend said.

According to the friend, Tanya’s her father works in a mining company in Telangana. She had two younger siblings, a brother and a sister.

On Sunday, her parents took her body to Aurangabad for the last rites after a post-mortem at RML hospital, he said.

Navin Dalwin, 29, from Ernakulam in Kerala, was pursuing PhD in Arts and Aesthetics from JNU.

He had joined the coaching institute eight months ago but had been staying in a rented accommodation near the university in Vasant Kunj area.

According to police, his parents in Kerala have been informed about the tragedy and they are expected to come to Delhi by evening.

His body will be handed over to them after the post mortem on Monday, a police officer said.

The third student, Shreya Yadav, was a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar.

She earlier used to stay at a PG Hostel in west Delhi’s Shadipur area and had taken admission to the coaching institute two months ago.

Shreya had done her BSc in agriculture from a college in UP.

Dharmender Yadav, an uncle of hers, said Shreya had moved to Delhi in April and joined the coaching institute in May.

Her father runs a dairy shop in UP and her two younger brothers are in school, Yadav, who lives in Ghaziabad, said.

Yadav was the one who came to the RML Hospital and took her body back home after autopsy.

Delhi police have registered an FIR and formed multiple teams to probe the Rajinder Nagar coaching centre flooding incident which killed three IAS aspirants.

“Multiple teams have been formed to investigate the entire incident. We have asked the Delhi Fire Services to provide us with a report about the building and the basement which was being used as a library but mentioned as ‘store room’,” a senior police officer said.

The officer further said the basement was 8 feet below the ground level, and more than 18 students were present in it on Saturday evening when it got flooded after heavy rains.

According to sources in the police department, the gate of the basement was closed, but due to the high pressure of rainwater, it got damaged and water gushed in.

“We are checking CCTV footage from the area to ascertain the sequence of the events. After scanning the CCTV footage, we will identify the people who were standing close to the institute during the time of the incident and will record their statements,” said the officer.

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.”

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

The FIR, registered on the statement of Sub-Inspector Dharmender Kumar Sharma, stated the owner of the coaching centre, who was present there at the time of the incident, failed to produce the documents required to run a library in the basement.

The owner also accepted that there was no drainage system in the basement, it said.

“After receiving a PCR call about flooding in the basement, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Birender was rushed to the spot,” the FIR stated.

The ASI saw the area waterlogged with the parking area under 3 feet of water. He immediately informed the SHO of Rajinder Nagar police station and brought the matter to the notice of the fire department and National Disaster Response Force, it stated.