IAS aspirants' deaths: CBI takes over probe on Delhi coaching centre drownings
Officials in CBI said they are in the process of taking over all case documents from the Delhi Police and will soon take custody of arrested people
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the probe into the death of three civil services aspirants in a waterlogged basement of a coaching centre at Old Rajendra Nagar on July 27 and re-registered its own case after procuring the first information report (FIR) lodged by the Delhi Police on Tuesday evening, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.
An agency team also visited the coaching centre on Wednesday. While handing over the investigation to the agency last week, the Delhi high court slammed the Delhi Police for its failure to act against Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials and expressed displeasure over the incapability of the Delhi government to upgrade the city’s infrastructure.
A bench of acting chief justice Manmohan and justice Tushar Rao Gedela transferred the probe given the nature of the incident and to ensure that the public does not doubt the investigation.
Officials in CBI said they are in the process of taking over all case documents from the Delhi Police and will soon take custody of arrested people. The agency will also look into the larger role of MCD to ascertain if such an incident could have been averted and fix liability, they added.
While handing over the probe to CBI, the chief justice said in his order that “roads cannot function as makeshift drains during the rains”.
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“This court is of the view that one needs to lift the level of debate and look at the bigger picture. If one does that, one finds that there is a far more fundamental problem in the city of Delhi. The physical, financial and administrative infrastructure of this city is not in accord with the present-day needs,” the court noted.
The court also observed that the major physical infrastructure of Delhi, like drains, was laid nearly seventy-five years ago. “In the last twenty years, there has been no commensurate spending on the infrastructure in Delhi,” it added.
Tanya Soni, 21, Shreya Yadav, 25, and Nevin Dalvin, 29, drowned when the basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle flooded following heavy localised rainfall on July 27.
The incident sparked a political blame game between Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which also controls the MCD, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even as authorities launched multiple probes.
Police registered a case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, causing death by negligence and common intention in the case and arrested Abhishek Gupta, 41, the CEO and owner of the coaching centre, and DP Singh, 60, the institute’s coordinator.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has also formed a committee to inquire into the flooding incident. The committee, home ministry said on its X account on July 29, will inquire into the reasons, fix responsibility, suggest measures and recommend policy changes.
“The committee will have Additional Secretary, ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), principal secretary (home) Delhi, special commissioner of police, Delhi Police, fire advisor and joint secretary as convener,” it said. It will submit its report in 30 days.