MHA forms probe panel, 5 more held as anger, anguish mount
New Delhi: Police on Monday arrested five more individuals, including four co-owners of the basement in the coaching centre where three civil service aspirants died. Bulldozers began demolishing encroachments as the city grappled with grief, with reactions resonating from parliament to the streets of Old Rajinder Nagar.
The Ministry of Home Affairs formed a committee to investigate the incident. This committee will identify the causes, assign responsibility, suggest measures, and recommend policy changes.
As members of the Lok Sabha from various parties called for an inquiry, hundreds of students continued their protests near Rau’s IAS Study Circle in west Delhi, where the tragedy occurred on Saturday night. The three students, trapped in a basement illegally used as a library, died as floodwaters rose.
Among those arrested was the driver of an SUV that drove through the flooded street, exacerbating the flooding and breaching the gates of the building, inundating the basement. The SUV was also seized.
All five arrested were placed in judicial custody for 14 days by a court. This brings the total number of arrests to seven. The owner and coordinator of the coaching institute had already been detained and charged with culpable homicide.
Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the families of the three civil service aspirants and assured action against officials of the Delhi Fire Services, police, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) found guilty within 24 hours. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has also taken action, sealing 20 basements of coaching centres in Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar that were illegally being used as libraries or classrooms. A junior engineer has been terminated, and an assistant engineer suspended for alleged lapses. Demolition of encroachments covering storm water drains has begun in Old Rajinder Nagar.
The tragedy has exposed serious lapses in civic infrastructure and oversight. It was revealed that a civil service aspirant, Kishore Singh Kushwah, had complained to the MCD about illegal basement operations in these coaching institutes just days before the incident. The lack of proper drainage systems and the covering of storm water drains by encroachers have been identified as major contributing factors to the flooding.
The incident has had far-reaching consequences for the thousands of civil service aspirants in Delhi. Many coaching centres have cancelled classes or shifted to online modes, while essential libraries remain closed. Students are grappling with uncertainty and disruption to their studies, with some expressing fears that such incidents could happen again without systemic changes.
The political fallout has been swift, with the BJP and AAP trading accusations of corruption and negligence. Protests have erupted near the AAP office and the LG Secretariat, with each party demanding action against the other. In the Lok Sabha, members across party lines called for inquiries and measures to prevent future tragedies.
