After the tragic demise of three IAS aspirants inside the basement of a coaching institute in Delhi, students on Sunday staged a mass protest outside the Karol Bagh metro station demanding justice for the deceased. Hundreds of students agitated against the authorities and shouted slogans of "We want justice". The protest led to traffic snarls and subsequently scuffle between the students and police. Following this, the students were detained and taken away by the police in a bus. Earlier the students staged a protest outside the coaching institute on Saturday.
Multiple probe teams formed
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has filed a FIR in the case and constituted multiple teams to probe the incident. "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.
As per the sources in the police department, the basement gate was closed, but high-pressure rainwater damaged the gates 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."
Challenging rescue operation
Yesterday, a team of NDRF and Delhi Fire Services rushed to Delhi's Old Rajendra Nagar area after getting information about trapped students inside a basement of an IAS coaching institute inundated with rainwater. Three aspirants, who were trapped in the basement library died in the incident.
Talking about the rescue operation, DFS chief Atul Garg said, "It was around 7. 10 pm, when we got a call from the area magistrate about the rescue operation. Though it was not a fire-related incident, we rushed five fire tenders on humanitarian grounds.
Describing the challenges in the rescue operation, Garg said, "Our pumping machines can pump the water out. But due to heavy rain, the water level on the road and the basement was equal. When we started pumping out the water, it again gushed at the same location."
Owner, coordinator arrested
Earlier today, the owner of and coordinator of the Rau's IAS institute were arrested. The incident raised questions about the local authorities and institute management for their negligence that took three young lives.
Speaking over the incident, Dehi's LG VK Saxena on Sunday expressed anguish and said that he was closely monitoring the situation. Moreover, he said, “These incidents clearly point towards criminal neglect & failure of basic maintenance & administration by concerned agencies & departments."
(WIth PTI Inputs)
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