“This is murder”: AAP MP Swati Maliwal on IAS aspirants’ death

New Delhi [India], July 28 (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Swati Maliwal expressed outrage on Sunday over delay in action against the officials responsible for the loss of the lives of three civil servant aspirants at an IAS coaching institute in West Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar and said that the deaths should be termed ‘murder” instead of a disaster.

The AAP MP stated that a FIR should be filed against government officials, as no minister from the Delhi government, the mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, or any other officer had responded even hours after the incident.

Speaking about the Old Rajinder Nagar Coaching Centre incident, Swati Maliwal said, “The students are very sad and angry. It has been more than 12 hours, and till now neither any minister of the Delhi government nor the mayor of MCD nor any officer has come. I believe that these deaths are not a disaster. This is murder. An FIR should be registered against all these big government officials.”

“These students come from different parts of the country with big dreams and aspirations to prepare for the UPSC. Their families toil to send them through difficulties and then these kinds of incidents take place where they die in such unfortunate circumstances,” she said.

The AAP MP further said, “It is not yet known whether 3 have died or more have died. Compensation of Rs 1 crore should be given to all the students who have died. The minister and mayor should come here immediately and apologise to them. Delhi will not run like this. I will raise this issue in Parliament.”

“I will keep all the demands of students in Parliament. The students are saying that 12 days ago they informed the counsellor that the drain system here is bad, so the counsellor and all the people above him should answer,” added Maliwal.

AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak also spoke on the incident and said, “The water has receded now, but enough is enough. This is a completely criminal activity, and strict action should be taken against the officials who are responsible. Desilting (of the drain) was done but still, there should be an inquiry and if someone is responsible, strict action should be taken.”

“Delhi’s drainage system has collapsed and the reason for this is that the BJP was in power for 15 years. We have been here for the last 1 year and are working on the drains, but I do not want to get into any blame game, I want it to be investigated and strict action should be taken against whoever is responsible,” he said.

Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva called for an inquiry into the Old Rajender Nagar incident.

“There should be an inquiry into the corruption of Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi and their government. The Delhi Municipal Corporation’s corruption should be investigated. There should be an inquiry as to why the drainage was not cleaned. Will they order an inquiry into this?” Sachdeva said.

Meanwhile, Delhi police on Sunday arrested two persons, the owner and coordinator of the IAS coaching centre, where three students lost their lives after the basement of the institute was filled with water.

“The owner and coordinator of the coaching centre are arrested,” said Delhi Police.

Three UPSC aspirants died in the basement of a popular IAS coaching institute in Delhi’s Old Rajender Nagar yesterday after the basement was flooded with water.

Earlier today, the police identified the victims of the coaching centre incident as Shreya Yadav, a native of Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana; and Nivin Dalwin, a resident of Kerala’s Ernakulam, DCP Central M Harshavardhan told ANI.

Police have also informed family members of the deceased. Police have sent their bodies to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) for an autopsy.

Notably, the Old Rajender Nagar incident comes days after a UPSC aspirant was electrocuted on a waterlogged Delhi street.