‘My husband was…’: What wife of SUV driver, arrested over Rau's IAS coching centre deaths, said
The wife of Manuj Kathuria claimed that her husband was being falsely blamed for the Delhi IAS coaching centre deaths on July 27.
Delhi IAS coaching centre deaths: Manuj Kathuria, a 50-year-old businessman, drove his sports utility vehicle (SUV) through a rain-flooded street in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar, allegedly causing water to surge and breach the gates of the three-storey Rau’s IAS Study Circle building, flooding its basement.
This incident led to the deaths of three civil services aspirants on June 27, and Manuj Kathuria was among the five individuals arrested.
The five accused – Tejinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh and Sarabjeet Singh, the four co-owners of the basement of the coaching centre at Old Rajinder Nagar, and the driver of the car, Manuj Kathuria – were produced in the court. Judicial magistrate Vinod Kumar sent them to judicial custody till August 12.
On Tuesday, the Tis Hazari Court had reserved its order on the bail plea of Manuj Kathuria. Also Follow | Live Updates on Delhi coaching centre deaths
Additional public prosecutor Atul Srivastava opposed the bail plea, saying Manuj Kathuria was not guilty of “contributory negligence”, but he aggravated the incident, news agency PTI reported. The additional public prosecutor played in court a few videos taken from Manuj Kathuria's social media accounts, showing him driving the same SUV, and said, "I am sorry to use this term. But he is mastikhor aur masti mein inhone yeh sab kar diya... In having fun he caused the incident."
The public prosecutor said the police investigation is still in a nascent stage and the accused, if let out on bail, may influence witnesses.
On Monday, Manuj Kathuria's counsel Rakesh Malhotra sought his client's immediate release on bail on the grounds that the arrest was illegal, a copy of the FIR was not provided to his client, who had no intention or knowledge of causing death.
Also Read | NHRC takes suo motu cognizance of student's death at Delhi's coaching centre
"The lane was open.... It was a 30-foot road, the water was 2.5-foot high, the speed was just 15 km per hour, I was driving at the centre of the road. Common people have been arrested to please the media and show the students that something is happening. No government officer has been arrested. Intent and knowledge are prerequisites for an offence. How would I know that students were present at the basement?" news agency PTI quoted the lawyer as saying.
The lawyer added, “Other cars were going before me and other (vehicles) came after me. Why did the water not reach other houses? The fault lies with the institutes and (government) departments. Why were officials of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) not arrested?”
Also Read | Horror in Old Rajender Nagar leaves students angry and confused, protests grow louder
However, the court asked him to file written submissions for bail on Tuesday.
SUV video goes viral
In a video purportedly shot by one of the students of the coaching centre, Manuj Kathuria’s Force Gurkha can be seen passing the water-logged road.
The gate of the coaching centre collapses due to the force of the water. The vehicle is then seen exiting through the other end of the road in the clip.
A day after the coaching centre’s CEO Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh were arrested, Delhi Police on Monday said five more people have been arrested in the case, including Manuj Kathuria, taking the total number of arrests to seven.
What Delhi Police said on the SUV driver
DCP (Central) M Harsh Vardhan said the SUV driver was arrested based on a video that was widely shared on social media platforms, which showed the accused pass by the coaching institute on his vehicle at a very high speed and later the gate of the building was found damaged.
“Negligence has been established on the part of the arrested driver, who has been arrested in the Old Rajinder Nagar case. He was driving the vehicle very fast, due to which the gate of the coaching centre broke. Before he hit the building gate, a street vendor had tried to stop him,” the DCP said.
According to the police, the flow of water towards the institute became faster after the vehicle passed by, flooding its premises.
"At the beginning of the video, the gate of the coaching institute was fine, but after the car passed, it broke and fell down. The accused driver has no connection with the coaching owner or the building owner," Harsh Vardhan added.
What Manuj Kathuria's wife said
The driver’s wife, Shima, claimed that her husband was being falsely blamed. “My husband didn’t even touch the door; he was on the other side. Police came to our home last evening and said they wanted to ask him questions, but later they arrested him. All the news channels are saying that he broke the door, but he did not,” ThePrint quoted her as saying.
According to her, Manuj Kathuria was on his way to drop two guests at the metro station, alleging that the Delhi Police were trying to pin the blame on him.
“We have been dealing with waterlogging for the last 20 years. This is not new. The water was up to the car bonnet. If he had stopped the car, it wouldn’t have restarted. Anyone who drives can understand that in such a situation, you don’t stop the car,” Shima was quoted by the news portal.
3 UPSC aspirants died
Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Nevin Dalwin from Kerala died after the basement of the building housing Rau's Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar flooded due to rain.
The owner and coordinator of the coaching centre were also arrested in the case. The accused have been booked for culpable homicide, among other charges.
(With inputs from agencies)