Delhi drownings: CBI says IAS coaching centre owner ‘knowingly’ used basement for business

The CBI has claimed in its court submission that the owner of the coaching institute where three UPSC aspirants drowned after waterlogging on July 27 “knowingly” used the basement for commercial purpose in contravention of Municipal Corporation of Delhi rules.

The CBI on Saturday (August 31) sought the special court’s permission for the “custodial interrogation” of Rau’s IAS Study Circle owner Abhishek Gupta and five other accused, Deshpal Singh, Harvinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Sarabjeet Singh, and Tajinder Singh, who have been in judicial custody.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Nishant Garg sent all six to CBI custody till September 4. The accused had been produced before the court on expiry of their judicial custody granted earlier in the case.

No fire safety certificate for a year

In its submission, the CBI also said that the institute in old Rajinder Nagar did not have a fire safety certificate for nearly a year after the issue was flagged before the Delhi High Court in 2023.

When the matter was raised before the high court last year that many coaching institutes in the area did not have the mandatory fire safety certificates, the MCD had issued a show-cause notice to the owner of Rau's IAS Study Circle, too, asking it to comply with the masterplan-2021.

In response, on August 8, 2023, the owner allegedly assured the MCD that he had applied for the fire safety certificate. Finally, the certificate was issued to the institute on July 9, 2024.

Violation of MCD certificate

The CBI probe has shown that the MCD had given the occupancy certificate to the building on August 9, 2021, “explicitly” stating that the basement can only be used for staircase, lift, lobby, toilet, parking lot, household storage, and car lift.

Gupta entered into a lease agreement with the co-owners of the building on January 5, 2022, taking the building on lease for nine years at Rs 4 lakh per month rent, the CBI has alleged.

The basement of the building was allegedly being used as a library and an examination hall, having 80–90 seating capacity. Students used to sit throughout the day for studies and taking tests, the agency found out.

“In contravention of the approved usage of the basement, the lessor and the lessee knowingly agreed to use the basement for the commercial purpose of running the coaching institute,” the CBI told a special court.

Flooding an old issue

The CBI also found that Old Rajinder Nagar used to get flooded even after moderate rains, being a low-lying area, and the rainwater used to enter the premises. To block the water from entering, steel gates were used in the building.

Citing the postmortem report, the CBI has said that the three UPSC aspirants died during the flooding on July 27 due to asphyxia caused by ante-mortem drowning.

The agency said its investigation revealed that at about 6.30 pm on July 27, several students were studying in the library in the basement of the coaching institute as it rained heavily.

“The rainwater entered the ground floor rapidly due to a sudden fall of the sliding gates of the main building and subsequently entered the basement, resulting in its flooding,” it had said earlier.

The CBI said that a few students survived but three students, Shreya Yadav, Tanya Soni, and Nevin Dalvin, died.

Custodial interrogation necessary: Court

The agency said its investigation shows that Rau’s IAS Study Circle is being run from a building that has “Basement, Stilt/Parking, Upper Ground Floor, First Floor, Second Floor and Third Floor”. “All the floors, including the basement, were used by the said coaching institute. The basement was used for the purpose of a library where students used to sit throughout the day for study as well as for taking tests conducted by the coaching institute,” it said.

“Considering the submissions in the application and, in particular, the scope of investigation in terms of the order dated August 2, 2024, of the High Court of Delhi, custodial interrogation of the accused persons would be necessary for the purpose of investigation and for ascertaining the role played by various individuals who might have been involved in corrupt practices or criminal negligence,” the court said on Saturday.

The case, filed under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), was transferred from the Delhi Police to the CBI by the high court on August 2.

(With agency inputs)