Delhi coaching centre deaths: Court denies bail to SUV driver, co-owners of basement

Students protest near Rau's IAS Study Circle

A Delhi Court on Wednesday denied bail to Manoj Kathuria, an SUV driver and businessman by profession, arrested in connection with the deaths of three civil services aspirants who drowned in the basement of an IAS coaching centre in the city's Old Rajinder Nagar area.

The three civil services aspirants - Tania Soni and Shreya Yadav, both aged 25, and Navin Delvin, 28 - died after a library illegally set up in the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle was flooded when a drain went burst following heavy rain.  So far, Delhi Police have arrested seven people in connection with the incident.

Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar of Tis Hazari Courts also denied bail to four co-owners of the basement, namely Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Tajinder Singh.

Earlier today,  the Delhi High Court  hit out at Delhi government's “freebie culture” over the death of three civil services aspirants in the basement of the Rau's IAS coaching centre due to flooding in Old Rajinder Nagar on July 27.

The Delhi high court also directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner, deputy commissioner of Police (DCP) and investigating officer to appear in the court on Friday.

The court said the responsibility of the investigation needs to be fixed. "If it is not then we will transfer the investigation under some central agency. We will either bring it under CVC (CBI) or Lokpal we will bring under.

We will like it to be done under some statutory mechanism. It will bring a larger picture. We will pass a straight order over there. Fixing responsibility in this case. This is a serious incident. It is infrastructure breakdown at the larger level. First, it’s a case of negligence,” the bench said.