4 co-owners of Rajendra Nagar basement move Delhi high court

The co-owners – Sarabjeet Singh, Tejinder Singh, Harinder Singh and Parminder Singh – were arrested on July 28

The four co-owners of the coaching centre basement in Old Rajendra Nagar, where three IAS aspirants drowned on July 27, approached the Delhi high court on Wednesday, five days after a city court denied them bail.

Three IAS aspirants drowned in the basement of the coaching centre at Old Rajendra Nagar in New Delhi on July 27. (ANI)

In their plea filed through advocates Gaurav Dua and Kaushal Jeet Kait, the co-owners – Sarabjeet Singh, Tejinder Singh, Harinder Singh and Parminder Singh – who were arrested on July 28, asserted that the city court, while refusing to release them on bail, failed to consider that they had voluntarily surrendered to the investigating officer, despite not being named in the first information report (FIR).

The voluntary subjection, the plea added, clearly pointed towards their bonafide, which the city court did not appreciate.

In its August 23 order, the city court had observed that even though the joint owners voluntarily surrendered before police, it was not sufficient to release them on bail. Principal district and sessions judge Anju Bajaj Chandna, in her 14-page order, had observed that the joint owners arose from their illegal act of permitting the basement to be used as a coaching institute. The judge had added that permitting the basement’s illegal use had a direct nexus with the unfortunate incident.

The petition alleged that the city court had even failed to note that the co-owners had merely given the basement and third floor on lease for running a coaching centre, an act permissible by the norms of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Seeking bail, the co-owners claimed that the applicability of section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), was a sham and a feeble attempt to increase the gravity of the case. It underscored that the said provision was not attractive in any manner as they never intended nor had the knowledge to commit such a crime and the city court in its order failed to consider this aspect.

“The prosecution has failed to show as to how the basic ingredients of the sections invoked against the applicant are satisfied. It is submitted that bare perusal of the sections invoked would show that at best the applicant can be subjected to civil liabilities as there was neither mens rea (knowledge of wrongdoing) nor actus reus (conduct of wrongdoing) on the part of the applicant to bring them within the purview of criminal liability,” the plea added.

On July 27, the tragedy struck in Old Rajinder Nagar, claiming the lives of Tanya Soni, 21, Shreya Yadav, 25, and Nevin Delvin, 29. They drowned when the basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle flooded, leaving them with no means of escape. Initially handled by the Delhi Police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had later registered a case for the offences of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing death by negligence, voluntarily causing hurt, negligent conduct w.r.t pulling down, repairing, or constructing building etc. and common intention, after the probe was transferred to them by the Delhi high court. The high court had transferred the probe on August 2, in light of concerns regarding the quality of the initial investigation. The move aims to assure the public that the investigation will be thorough and transparent due to the sensitive nature of the incident.