Delhi IAS aspirants’ death: SUV driver’s bail rejected, wife says ‘disappointed’

Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar rejected the bail plea of driver Manuj Kathuria and basement owners Tejinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh, and Sarabjeet Singh, reported PTI.

“All the bail applications are dismissed,” the judge said.

The civil services aspirants – Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala – died on July 27 evening after they were trapped inside the library running in the basement of Old Rajinder Nagar-based Rau’s IAS Study Circle, which was flooded due to rain.

Aspirants from different coaching centres have been staging a dharna in front of Rau’s Study Circle since Sunday. Some students also started a hunger strike on Tuesday against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to press their demands.

So far, the Delhi Police has arrested seven people in connection with the case. These include the CEO-owner of Rau’s Study Circle, the centre’s coordinator, four owners of the basement and the driver of an SUV.

Kathuria has been accused of driving his Force Gurkha car through a street that was flooded. It is alleged that as he drove through the street, the rainwater swelled and breached the gates of the three-storey coaching centre, which eventually inundated the basement. The four co-owners have been charged with abetting the offences.

Very disappointed that bail has been rejected: SUV driver’s wife

The SUV driver’s wife, Shima Kathuria, said that her family is very disappointed that her husband’s bail application has been rejected.

“We are very disappointed that the bail application has been rejected. We were very hopeful that Manuj would come back home tonight but he will have to spend another night in jail without any fault,” Shima Kathuria was quoted as saying by ANI. “The High Court Judge mentioned thrice about a passerby getting arrested. Sooner or later, we will get justice,” she added.

What the Delhi High Court said today

Notably, the Delhi high court earlier today criticised the Delhi police over the way it was carrying out its probe in the case.

Calling the incident a case of “criminal neglect”, “serious” and “infrastructure breakdown at the larger level”, the court was of the view that Delhi police’s investigation was “strange”, as it was taking action against a passerby, driver Kathuria, but had failed to act against errant Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials or even investigate their role.

“There is some sort of strange investigation which is going on. It is being done in a very strange manner. No MCD officials have been hauled up till now. Has he (the investigating officer) investigated the role of the MCD officer? How come there was so much water over there? Only one person has gone to jail from MCD. Delhi police have arrested a bystander, a driver who was driving a car there. It seems someone has lost it. The police officers who are investigating the same, what are they doing?” the bench said.