Coaching centre deaths: five more held, bulldozer action as anger, anguish mount

New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Five more people were arrested on Monday and bulldozers began demolishing encroachments as anguish over the deaths of three civil service aspirants who drowned in the basement of a coaching centre echoed across the city, from parliament to the streets of Old Rajinder Nagar.

While Lok Sabha members across party lines demanded an inquiry, hundreds of students continued their protests near Rau’s IAS Study Circle in the west Delhi locality where the horror unfolded Saturday night, killing the three students trapped in the basement illegally used as a library as floodwaters rose outside.

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.

With this, the number of arrests has gone up to seven. The owner and the coordinator of the coaching institute have already been nabbed and booked for culpable homicide.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, battling charges of negligence and not desilting storm water drains, terminated a junior engineer and suspended an assistant engineer of the area for alleged lapses on their part.

“Encroachments covering storm water drains to be demolished,” MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar told reporters.

The MCD commissioner had told PTI earlier that storm drains were covered by encroachers, leading to waterlogging and rainwater entering the basement.

For many, the civic apathy was underscored by a civil service aspirant, Kishore Singh Kushwah, saying he had complained to the MCD about classes and libraries being operated from the basements of Rao’s IAS Study Circle and other institutes on June 26.

He said in a video that he was demanding strict action against big UPSC coaching institutes which were allegedly putting the lives of students at stake.

Not too far away from west Delhi, the tragedy found quiet denouement with the body of Nevin Delvin, the 28-year-old Jawaharlal Nehru Student who died, being handed over to his uncle at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

“We will take… his body to Trivandrum, his native place for the funeral. We learnt about the incident on Sunday morning,” the grieving uncle said.

The bodies of the other two students – Shreya Yadav and Tanya Soni – were handed over to their families on Sunday.

As the families came to terms with their loss, a political blame game played out too with AAP and BJP leaders trying to shift responsibility.

The BJP staged a protest near the AAP office, demanding the resignation of the Arvind Kejriwal government with state party chief Virendra Sachdeva saying the three died due to due to corruption of the Aam Aadmi Party that governs Delhi and MCD.

The Aam Aadmi Party on its part protested near the LG Secretariat to demand the sacking of officers who allegedly failed to issue directions for the desilting of drains in Delhi.

In the Lok Sabha, members of several parties spoke out.

BJP leader and New Delhi Lok Sabha MP Bansuri Swaraj blamed the AAP’s “utter apathy” for the deaths and demanded that an inquiry committee under the Home Ministry be set up to probe the incident.

“Criminal negligence of the Aam Aadmi Party has led to the death of these students. An inquiry should be set up on the Delhi Government which is neck deep in corruption. Why are the drains not being cleaned in Delhi?” she asked during Zero Hour.

Echoing the demand for an inquiry, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor said there has been a violation in safety codes, and demanded compensation for the families. He said drains have to be cleaned and steps taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

There was uproar in the MCD House too, leading to adjournment.

Civic body officials launched an encroachment drive in Old Rajinder Nagar. On Sunday, the civic body sealed 13 illegal coaching centres in the area, a hub of coaching institutes.

Security was beefed up in the area with angry students congregating to register their protest.

Hundreds squatted on the road near the coaching institute, demanding justice and compensation for the families of the deceased.

“This incident will happen again. More students will be killed. If we don’t do anything now, we won’t get justice for our fellow students,” said Rahul Sharma, a resident of Uttar Pradesh who has been here for the last two years preparing for the exam.

Sharma said, “If we don’t fight for ourselves, how will we serve the nation in the future? How will we save others’ lives when we are not able to save ourselves and a student’s life? This is pure negligence by the government.”

Lt Governor V K Saxena met protesting students and assured them that no one responsible for the incident will be spared.

The students were not mollified. Raising slogans of “We want justice”, they insisted Saxena join them instead of standing behind police barricades.

According to police, the building housing Rau’s IAS Study Circle was constructed in 2021 and owned by four separate individuals. One of them owned the basement, who was among the five arrested today.

Police will also question municipal officials about desilting of drains and the clearance certificate issued to Rau’s IAS Study Circle.

The MCD is responsible for the desilting of storm water drains. It has been alleged the drainage system near the coaching centre in the Old Rajinder Nagar area was not working properly due to which a large quantity of rainwater got accumulated at the road, and gushed into the basement.

A Delhi Police official said they will also seek the details from the MCD about the cleaning of the drains and the number of inspections they carried out in the area.

Apart from Rajinder Nagar, the MCD launched a sealing drive in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, another hub of UPSC coaching institutes.

The action is being carried out against basements of establishments operating illegally in the area, an official said.

Delhi Fire Services also initiated the process of cancelling the NOC of the Rau’s IAS Study Circle building.