Inadequate drainage system, highly unstable main entrance used as flood water barrier, cubicle with lockable door at entry point which prevented students from escaping – these are the main submissions made by the CBI in its charge sheet. Three students drowned in the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar In July this year.
The risk of flooding was “foreseeable by a common passerby” and by allowing students to use the basement, the coaching center put their lives at risk, the CBI alleged in a charge sheet filed in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court. Currently, the agency is investigating the corruption angle, The Indian Express has learnt.
Meanwhile, nearly five months after the July 27 incident, the Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from states on the model rules drafted to prevent such incidents at coaching centres.
According to the CBI chargesheet, there was moderate rainfall on July 27 – as per India Meteorological Department standards – as a result of which, the main road in front of Rau’s IAS was flooded. This is contrary to the statement of the accused’s counsel that there was “heavy rain” on the day of the incident. According to the investigating agency, around 30 students were in the basement in the evening when the incident occurred.
A Force Gurkha SUV was plying on the road near the steel gate, the main entrance of the coaching centre. The gates, which were used to prevent rainwater from entering the premises, however, could not withstand the pressure created by the vehicles on the fateful day, the CBI said. Because of this, the basement is flooded. The driver Manuj Kathuria was arrested and granted bail by a Delhi court a few days later.
The CBI also alleged that the drainage system at the local level was inadequate to carry the flood water. But the chargesheet pointed out that none of the Delhi Jal Board’s pipes burst on the day of the incident.
It also submitted a report by IIT Delhi which stated that the building’s main entrances were too unstable to be used as flood water barriers.
According to the inspection conducted by experts from IIT Delhi, the agency found that an 8-inch ‘riser’ was constructed to prevent water from entering the basement and two pumps were installed to pump out the water. There was also a “broken” water collection pit at the entrance of the coaching centre, the agency said.
All the four co-owners of the basement … let the basement to M/s Rau’s IAS Study Circle to be used for commercial purposes, despite the knowledge that the basement could only be used for storage, parking, etc. “CBI said citing the completion-cum-indictment certificate of the building dated August 2021. The owners received a monthly rent of Rs 4 lakh and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had issued a show-cause notice to the coaching center on August 4, 2023, with directions to stop misuse of the property.
The CBI further submitted that a month before the accident, civil services aspirant Kishore Singh Kushwaha had lodged an online complaint against using the basement for coaching purposes and endangering students. Students and staff told the CBI that flooding in the basement was a regular occurrence.
The investigating agency had in October filed a chargesheet against six accused, Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh, and Tajinder Singh – co-owners of the building where Rau’s IAS was allegedly running a library in the basement; Coaching Center CEO Abhishek Gupta; and Center Coordinator Deshpal Singh. Currently, all the accused are out on interim bail.