Coaching Centre Deaths: Owner Knowingly Used Basement For Commercial Purpose Sans Authorisation: CBI

New Delhi: The CBI, on Saturday, told Delhi Court that the owner of Rau's IAS study circle coaching institute 'knowingly' used the basement for commercial purposes in contravention of the usage approved by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

The case pertained to the deaths of three UPSC aspirants who drowned due to waterlogging in old Rajinder Nagar on July 27.

In light of the "seriousness" of the allegations, the CBI sought special court's permission for "custodial interrogation" of coaching institute owner Abhishek Gupta and other accused Deshpal Singh, Harvinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Sarabjeet Singh and Tajinder Singh who have been in judicial custody.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Nishant Garg on Saturday sent all six to CBI custody till September 4.

In its submission to the court, the CBI has said that its probe has also shown that the institute did not have a fire safety certificate for nearly one year after the issue was flagged before the Delhi High Court in 2023.

When the matter was raised before the high court last year that many coaching institutes in the area do not have mandatory fire safety certificates, the MCD issued a show cause notice to the owner of Rau's IAS study circle also to comply with the masterplan-2021.

In response on August 8, 2023, he assured the MCD that he had applied for the fire safety certificate. Finally, the certificate was issued to the institute on July 9, 2024.

The CBI probe has shown that the MCD had given an occupancy certificate to the building on August 9, 2021 "explicitly" stating that the basement can only be used for a staircase, lift, lobby, toilet, parking, household storage and car lift.

The owner of the coaching institute Abhishek Gupta entered into a lease agreement with the co-owners of the building on January 5, 2022, taking the building on lease for nine years at Rs four lakh per month rent, the CBI has alleged.

The basement of the building was allegedly being used for a library and examination hall, having an 80-90 seating capacity. Students used to sit throughout the day for studies and taking tests, the agency found.

"In contravention of the approved usage of the basement, the lessor and the lessee knowingly agreed to use the basement for the commercial purpose of running the coaching institute," the CBI has told a special court.

The CBI also found that Old Rajinder Nagar used to get flooded even after moderate rains, being a low-lying area, and the rainwater used to enter the premises. In order to block the water from entering, steel gates were used in the building.

Citing the postmortem report, the CBI has said that the three UPSC aspirants died during the flooding on July 27 due to asphyxia caused by ante-mortem drowning.

The agency said its investigation revealed that on July 27 at about 6.30 PM, several students were studying in the library located in the basement of the coaching institute and heavy rainfall was taking place outside.

"The rainwater entered suddenly in the ground floor due to sudden fall of sliding gates of the main building and subsequently entered into the basement resulting in flooding of the same," it had said earlier.

The CBI said that few students survived but three students namely Shreya Yadav, Tanya Soni and Nevin Dalvin died.

The agency said its investigation shows that Rau's IAS Study Circle is being run in a building that has a "Basement, Stilt/Parking, Upper Ground Floor, First Floor, Second Floor and Third Floor." "All the floors including the basement were used by the said coaching institute. The basement was used for the purpose of a library where students used to sit throughout the day for study as well as for taking tests conducted by the coaching institute," it said.

The case has been filed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), was transferred from the Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the high court on August 2.

"Considering the submissions in the application and in particular the scope of investigation in terms of the order dated August 2, 2024, of the High Court of Delhi, custodial interrogation of the accused persons would be necessary for the purpose of investigation and for ascertaining the role played by various individuals who might have been involved in corrupt practices or criminal negligence," the court said on Saturday.

The court passed the order on an application filed by the CBI seeking police custody of all the six accused for four days for their interrogation. The accused were produced before the court on expiry of their judicial custody granted earlier in the case.

(with PTI inputs)