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

A few students were detained after they staged a protest in Old Rajinder Nagar on Sunday, demanding action against those responsible for the deaths of three civil services aspirants at a coaching centre in the area, and compensation for their families.

Raising slogans “we want justice”, the protestors blocked the road next to the Karol Bagh Metro Station, causing huge traffic snarls in the area and prompting police intervention.

A scuffle erupted between the students and police, after which a few protestors were detained and taken away in a bus. Following this, many demonstrators dispersed from the area and police resumed the traffic movement there.

The police also used body camera and drones to monitor protestors’ activities during the demonstration.

At the protest site, Aman Saxena, a civil services aspirant and a coaching student, said, “If the authorities will not accept our demands, we will go to the Jantar Mantar to further protest and press our demands. We just want justice for the three students who lost their lives in this incident. Police personnel and paramilitary forces have been deployed here in huge numbers. We are not terrorists, we are the future of the nation and demanding what is right.”

Another student claimed that there was a biometric entry into the basement where the incident occurred the students got stuck in the basement due to its failure. Another protestor said the matter on poor condition of coaching institutes should be addressed in Parliament.

Amit Kumar, another student protestor, urged that the incident should not be politicised. “We are demanding that following accountability, action should be taken against the guilty, and justice and compensation for the families of deceased. This matter should not be turned into a political issue,” Kumar said.

The protestors also accused the MCD for the incident. They raised slogans against the civic body and demanded its commissioner met them.

Mohak Gupta, another coaching student, said, “We have come here to study and students want a safe environment for exam preparation. The condition is same at every coaching institute. When mock tests are being held, thousands of students sit in the basement areas to appear in those tests. We had hoped of a change in the condition of coaching centres after the fire incident at the coaching institute in Mukherjee Nagar, but nothing happened.”

Gunaseelan, a resident of Tamil Nadu who is also a student of a coaching institute in the area, said students are spending lakhs of rupees but not getting proper facilities. “I have come here from Tamil Nadu for UPSC coaching. We are spending lakhs of rupees and not getting proper facilities. My family heard about the incident and they called me. I assured them that I am fine,” he said.

Students highlighted safety violations at coaching centres across the city, and raised questions over the “negligence” of the Delhi government. “There is a systemic problem in these coaching centres with a lack of interest in safety measures. There are no fire exits or emergency exits,” said a student.

The storm drains built to carry away excess water due to heavy rains in the Old Rajendra Nagar area, where three civil services aspirants died after being trapped in the basement of a coaching institute, were covered by encroachers, a senior MCD official said on Sunday.

The drainage system in the area was heavily clogged with silt and overflowed leading to a flood-like situation due to the rains that lashed parts of Delhi on Saturday, locals complained.

The basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle reportedly got flooded but the students could not escape because the single biometric entry and exit point failed, say reports. The police, however, said it is yet to confirm the biometric lock claim and will investigate it.

Asked about reports of waterlogged drains in the area and if their de-silting was completed, a senior MCD officer directed news agency PTI to the deputy commissioner of the zone for details.

He, however, mentioned that “people on street sides have encroached and covered the storm drains” used to carry away the water accumulated during heavy rains.

Abhishek Mishra, Deputy Commissioner of the Karol Bagh zone of the MCD, where the incident took place, did not respond to the calls and texts to seek information.

Meanwhile, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi has directed MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar to take strict action against commercial activities run in the basements and ascertain if an MCD official is responsible for the incident.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has initiated action against coaching centres flouting norms and will set up a high-level committee to probe the Rau’s IAS Study Circle basement flooding incident that resulted in three deaths, MCD officials have said.

Establishments running illegally from the basement have been identified and a drive to take action against them has started, an official said.

The MCD last year conducted a survey of such coaching centres after a massive fire broke at an institute forcing many to jump off the building to escape the blaze. To begin with, the survey will be used to identify those flouting norms, the official said.

Another official said the MCD and the Delhi government are in talks and a high-level committee will soon be will set up to look into the incident in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area.

Friends and families of the three deceased students were angry as they were not allowed to see their bodies at the RML Hospital.

At the RML mortuary, it was an agonising wait for the family members of Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala. The friends of the victims also reached the hospital and expressed anger at the events that unfolded on Saturday.

Dharmender Yadav, uncle of Shreya Yadav, said he learnt about the incident through news channels. “I tried to call her but her phone was switched off. Even the coaching centre’s number was not reachable. I left from Ghaziabad and reached the place where she stayed but her room was locked.

“I went to the coaching centre where I met the DCP and he asked me to go to RML Hospital. At the hospital, I was not allowed to see her body. However, they confirmed receiving her body,” he said.

Shreya had completed her BSc in agriculture and had joined the coaching centre in May. Her parents, relatives and friends were at the hospital since 10 am. Her parents and friends left with her body at 1.43 pm.