Delhi Police likely to question MCD officials over coaching centre deaths

May grill about desilting of drains and the clearance certificate issued by them to the Rau's IAS Study Circle

New Delhi: Delhi Police may question MCD officials about desilting of drains and the clearance certificate issued by them to the Rau’s IAS Study Circle where three students died due to flooding of a basement being used as a library, sources said on Monday.

They said the police are going to write to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) over these issues, and if required in the course of the probe, may call the officers concerned for questioning.

---

The MCD is responsible for the desilting of storm water drains. It has been alleged the drainage system near the coaching centre in the Old Rajinder Nagar area was not working properly due to which a large quantity of rainwater got accumulated at the road, and gushed into the basement.

A Delhi Police official said they will also seek the details from the MCD about the cleaning of the drains and the number of inspections they carried out in the area. The police will also ask the MCD to furnish the occupancy certificate where the basement-owner allegedly said it’d be used for parking and household storage, sources said. The owner was using the basement for a library and also set up a biometric system to regulate access, police said.

Delhi Police has registered an FIR and formed multiple teams to probe the incident. The owner and the coordinator of the Rau’s IAS Study Circle have been arrested and booked for culpable homicide and other charges. On Sunday, both the accused were sent to Tihar for 14 days of judicial custody.

The sources said the police found during the probe that an aspirant filed a complaint with the Delhi government a month back stating that the basement was running illegally. however, nothing to avail, the source said. A senior officer said that a few more people are on the radar as they are suspected to be responsible for the incident. They may be arrested or summoned soon, he said.

The FIR stated that a huge quantity of rainwater accumulated on the road as the drainage system was not working properly and it entered the four-storey building’s basement which housed the library. With no water outlet provision in the basement, it took more than five hours for the authorities to pump out the water during the rescue operation.

The IAS aspirants who died in the incident have been 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.