Delhi Police registers FIR, forms teams to probe coaching centre flooding incident

The Delhi Police has registered an FIR and formed multiple teams to probe the Rajinder Nagar coaching centre flooding incident which killed three IAS aspirants, officials said on Sunday.

The police have arrested the owner and the coordinator of the Rau’s IAS Study Circle and booked them for culpable homicide and under other charges.

“Multiple teams have been formed to investigate the entire incident. We have asked the Delhi Fire Services to provide us report about the building and the basement which was being used as a library but mentioned as ‘store room’,” a senior police officer said.

The officer further said the basement was eight-feet below the ground level and more than 18 students were present in it on Saturday evening when it got flooded after heavy rains.

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According to sources in the police department, the gate of the basement was closed, but due to high pressure of rain water, it got damaged and water gushed in.

“We are checking CCTV footage from the area to ascertain the sequence of the events. After scanning the CCTV footage, we will identify the people who were standing close to the Institute during the time of incident and will record their statements,” said the officer.

Deputy Commissioner of Police M Harsha Vardhan said, “We have registered an FIR at Rajinder Nagar Police Station under sections 105 (culpable homicide), 106(1) (death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 115(2) (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings) and 35 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and launched an investigation.”

So far, two people — coaching centre owner Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh — have been arrested, he said.

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The bodies of two female students and a male student were retrieved from the basement during the rescue operation.

The deceased were identified as Shreya Yadav (25) of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana and Nevin Delvin (24) from Ernakulam in Kerala, police said.