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Delhi court refuses bail to 5 accused in basement flooding case
The bail applications were moved by Manoj Kathuria, who drove the SUV through the flooded street on Saturday, and the four accused who reportedly owned the basement of the building
A Delhi court on Wednesday refused to grant bail to the five persons accused in the death of three young civil service aspirants as the library of their coaching institute situated at Old Rajendra Nagar flooded following heavy rainfall on Saturday evening.
The bail applications were moved by Manoj Kathuria, who drove the SUV through the flooded street on Saturday, and the four accused — Sarabjeet Singh, Tejinder Singh, Harinder Singh and Parminder Singh – who reportedly owned the basement of the building.
Judicial magistrate first class Vinod Kumar dismissed the bail applications filed by the five accused in the case registered by the Delhi police regarding the tragedy which claimed the lives of Tanya Soni, 21, Shreya Yadav, 25, and Nevin Delvin, 29, who drowned when the basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle flooded within no time leaving no chance for them to escape.
Kathuria while seeking bail on Tuesday claimed that he neither had the knowledge nor the intention to cause any such incident. Appearing for Kathuria, advocate Rakesh Malhotra said that his client could not have imagined that by driving the car, water would swell in such a way that the gate would collapse and the basement would be flooded.
He said that the car was being driven slowly as it is very difficult to drive a car at high speed on a waterlogged road and refuted the prosecution’s claim that Kathuria drove his car at high speed leading to the tragedy.
It was also argued that the civic authorities are also to be blamed as Malhotra cited a report on a complaint sent to the civic authorities a month ago alleging libraries being run illegally in the basement.
The other accused also sought to lay the blame on the civic authorities. Advocate Amit Chaddha appearing for the four accused said, “The authorities are responsible for the tragedy…you have arrested people who are soft target but you have not arrested the persons who are actually responsible.”
Further, he argued that the lease agreement puts the responsibility of the tragedy on the lessee and not the owner.
The bail applications were opposed by the Delhi police. Additional public prosecutor (APP) Atul Srivastava showed videos of the incident to demonstrate that Kathuria aggravated the situation by driving on a waterlogged road at high speed, and did not apply brakes, despite being a resident of the area and being aware that coaching institutes are lined up along the road. He further alleged that granting bail to the accused will be detrimental to the probe which is at a nascent stage.
Responding to the averments made by Chaddha, the prosecutor informed the court that according to the original plan of the building, the basement was meant for parking, but it was allowed to be used as a library, while putting the blame on the owners as well.
Kathuria and the four other accused persons were arrested by the Delhi police on Monday and have been sent to judicial custody till August 12. The police had already arrested Abhishek Gupta, the CEO and owner of the institute, and DP Singh, coordinator, who are currently in judicial custody.
