Five people were arrested, bulldozers tore down alleged encroachments, lawmakers in Parliament demanded action and the Union ministry of home affairs formed an inquiry panel amid snowballing outrage over the death of three students in the flooded basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar, an incident that has triggered allegations of administrative apathy and underscored the lack of accountability in a city dogged by a multiplicity of authorities.
Meanwhile, hundreds of students continued to protest around Rau’s IAS Study Circle in the west Delhi neighbourhood, demanding action, even as the elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government traded blame with the lieutenant governor and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the incident.
Read more: Delhi Rau's IAS deaths: MCD seals 5 more basements of coaching centres
Separately, the Delhi Police wrote to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), asking them for the details of officials responsible for the upkeep of the drainage system in the area, while the civic agency sought to bat away charges of dereliction, as it terminated the services of a junior engineer and suspended an assistant engineer for alleged lapses.
Tanya Soni (21), Shreya Yadav (25) and Nevin Delvin (29) drowned on Saturday when the basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle coaching centre flooded following heavy localised rainfall. Documents seen by HT showed that the basement was permitted to be used as a parking space, but was illegally converted into a library. The drainage lines in the basement were also blocked in this process, significantly exacerbating Saturday’s flooding.
{{/usCountry}}Tanya Soni (21), Shreya Yadav (25) and Nevin Delvin (29) drowned on Saturday when the basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle coaching centre flooded following heavy localised rainfall. Documents seen by HT showed that the basement was permitted to be used as a parking space, but was illegally converted into a library. The drainage lines in the basement were also blocked in this process, significantly exacerbating Saturday’s flooding.
{{/usCountry}}The following day, police arrested Abhishek Gupta (41), the CEO and owner of the institute, and his aide DP Singh (60), booking both under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 106 (1) (causing death by negligence) ,115 (2) (causing hurt), 290 (negligent conduct with respect to building) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).
Four of the people arrested on Monday – Sarabjeet Singh, Tejinder Singh, Harinder Singh and Parminder Singh, all residents of Karol Bagh – reportedly owned the basement of the building that housed Rau’s IAS Study Circle.
The fifth, Manoj Kathuria, drove his SUV through the flooded street on Saturday, seemingly setting off a wave that smashed down the gate of the four-storey building and unleashed a deluge into its basement.
However, police said Kathuria (49), who runs an off-roading-focussed YouTube channel, was recording a video while crossing the inundated street and accused him of “driving rashly”.
“We have been told that the driver was making a video while crossing the institute on his way home and ignored a vegetable vendor’s requests to drive slower,” said a Delhi Police officer who asked not to be named. “These claims are to be verified,” said the officer.
The deaths also resounded in Parliament on Monday, with lawmakers from across the political spectrum condemning the incident and calling for accountability.
Rajya Sabha cancelled part of its regular business to take up a short-duration discussion on the accident, which chairman Jagdeep Dhankar said was a matter of serious concern.
“Every day, one sees huge advertisements of coaching centres in newspapers. Where is the money coming from? It’s coming from students,” he said.
Read more: Centre forms panel to probe Rau's IAS coaching deaths
And even as the treasury and opposition benches sparred, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said both states and the Centre had jurisdiction over education, which falls in the concurrent list of the Constitution.
“There has been negligence. The loss is irreparable. I offer my condolences. But someone has to take the responsibility so that this is not repeated,” he said.
In the Lok Sabha, the BJP’s New Delhi lawmaker Bansuri Swaraj blamed the AAP government, accusing it of “criminal negligence” and said it failed to desilt drains ahead of the monsoon.
“They have neither done any upgradation nor desalination of the drains… Why are the drains not being cleaned in Delhi?” she asked during Zero Hour.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav called for a thorough investigation. “In Uttar Pradesh, bulldozers are run over illegal buildings. I want to know if bulldozers will be run here also.”
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said there was “a rampant violation of basic safety norms in the Capital”.
In the evening, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) said it has constituted a committee to investigate the accident.
In a post on X, MHA said the panel would investigate the reasons behind the accident, fix responsibility, suggest measures and recommend policy changes.
The panel comprises the additional secretary of the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), Delhi’s principal secretary (home), Delhi Police’s special commissioner, fire advisor and the MHA joint secretary as convener, the ministry said, adding that the committee will submit its report in 30 days.
And as dismay around the accident swirled from Parliament to the streets, MCD on Monday commissioned bulldozers to tear down alleged encroachments in and around coaching institutes in the city to reclaim blocked drainage lines.
The civic body also said it is carrying out a survey across the city to identify properties violating basement rules, such as Rau’s IAS Study Circle, even as it sealed a bunch of institutions in popular coaching hubs such as Rajendra Nagar, Mukherjee and Nehru Vihar.
MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar said the agency was working on three fronts: “First, people there have encroached all stormwater drains and covered them, curtailing the flow of water. We are demolishing all such encroachments. Second, action has been stepped up against illegal basements. Third, properties were sealed last night (Sunday) and the drive is still on.”
However, in Delhi’s political circles, it was also about assigning blame.
The AAP sought to blame the BJP, arguing that it governed Delhi’s civic body for 15 years, till December 2022.
“The LG (VK Saxena) has himself admitted that no work was done on drainage for 10-15 years. AAP came to power in MCD a year ago. BJP remained in MCD for 15 years and ruined the whole of Delhi by not fixing drainage,” AAP MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said.
The BJP protested outside the AAP’s office and demanded Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation for “criminal negligence”.
“The AAP is responsible for the murder of three innocents... Both the MLA and the municipal councillor of Rajendra Nagar are from AAP, so if the AAP is not responsible for this entire incident, then who is? AAP leaders are trying to put the blame on officials for their mistakes… Any department of the DJB, DFS, MCD or government machinery that is guilty should face strict action,” said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.
Meanwhile, Saxena, who interacted with protesting students on Monday, announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh for the families of each of the three victims.
But students of the area’s many coaching centres were despondent and said they had reconciled themselves with studying in unsafe conditions.
“More students will die if we neglect this incident. We won’t get justice for our fellow students,” said Rahul Sharma, who has been preparing for the civil services in Rajinder Nagar.
“Roads here get waterlogged every time it rains,” said Suraj, an aspirant from Bihar who has been living in Rajinder Nagar for the last four years.