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IAS aspirants' death | ‘Mercifully, you have not challaned…’: Delhi high court raps police over SUV driver's arrest
Delhi IAS coaching centre deaths: The Delhi high court transferred the probe into the drowning of three civil services aspirants to the CBI.
Delhi IAS coaching centre deaths: The Delhi high court has pulled up the police for arresting a man for driving his SUV through a flooded road in Old Rajinder Nagar that caused the water to swell and gush into the basement of a coaching centre where three UPSC aspirants died, saying "mercifully, you have not challaned the rainwater".
The SUV driver, Manuj Kathuria, was granted bail by a sessions court in Delhi on Thursday, saying the accused was “implicated in over-enthusiasm” in the case.
Manuj Kathuria was arrested on July 29 in connection with the death of three students who drowned in the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar.
Manuj Kathuria was sent to 14-day judicial custody on culpable homicide charge. The Delhi Police had accused Manuj Kathuria of driving his Force Gurkha car through the street that was flooded by rainwater, causing the water to swell and breach the gates of the three-storey building and inundate the basement.
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On Friday, the Delhi high court slammed the police for not questioning any Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) official till now or even seizing the relevant file from the civic body, which could have been an important piece of evidence.
The way the police were proceeding in the matter, it could have "fined the water, saying 'how dare it enter the coaching centre's basement'", said news agency PTI quoted a bench of acting chief Manmohan and justice Tushar Rao Gedela as saying
“You (police) have not even called a minion for questioning,” the bench said.
“Mercifully, you have not challaned the rainwater for entering into the basement. You would have said how dare the water enter the basement. You could have fined the water also, the way you arrested the SUV driver for driving his car there,” the bench further said.
The court also said police are respected when they book a culprit and leave an innocent. But when the police book an innocent and leave a culprit, it is very sad, the bench added.
"We are going to have these tragedies day after day and we will have these tragedies every monsoon... Be ready for all this. Water is not going to spare anyone. It does not know anyone's address. Tragedy knows no one's address. You can't fight nature's fury. You have to allow nature to function. You have to allow stormwater and sewage drains to function," the bench told the authorities.
Delhi HC transfers case to CBI
The Delhi high court also transferred the probe into the drowning of three civil services aspirants to the Central Bureau of Investigation "to ensure the public has no doubt over the investigation".
It asked the Central Vigilance Commission to nominate a senior officer to oversee the probe by the CBI into the criminal case in a time-bound manner.
SUV driver Manuj Kathuria released on bail
Manuj Kathuria was released from Tihar Jail on Friday. This followed a bail grant by Delhi's Tis Hazari Court on Thursday. On July 27, three UPSC candidates drowned in the basement library of Rau’s coaching centre. The Delhi Police has arrested seven persons in connection with the incident, including Rau’s IAS CEO Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh.
Manuj Kathuria was granted bail after the prosecution informed the local court that they have decided to drop a harsher charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against him.
On July 31, the high court castigated the police for its "strange" probe by arresting the car driver.
"What is Delhi Police doing? Have they lost it? What are its officials who are monitoring the probe doing? This is a cover-up or what?" the high court had said while hearing a PIL seeking a probe into the incident.
4 coaching institutes offer ₹10 lakh each to kin of 3 dead IAS aspirants
At lest four UPSC coaching institutes – Vajiram and Ravi Institute, Drishti IAS, NEXT IAS, and SRIRAM's IAS – have offered ₹10 lakh each to the families of Shreya Yadav, Tanya Soni and Nevin Dalvin, the three IAS aspirants.
(With inputs from agencies)
