The footage shows students wading through the water, which can be seen gushing down the stairs.
New Delhi:
A horrifying scene unfolded at a Delhi coaching centre on Saturday when water flooded into a basement that was being used as a library in violation of rules, trapping several students inside and leaving three dead.
A video that appears to have been shot hours before the bodies of the three students were recovered shows many students rushing out of the flooded basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Rajendra Nagar, west Delhi.
As the students waded through the water, they could see it gushing down the stairs.
A man’s voice can be heard calling out to students to hurry out of the basement. “Everybody, come up here. Hurry, hurry… Is anyone still here? Is anyone downstairs?” the man asks.
Three students — Tania Soni (25), Shreya Yadav (25) and Navin Delvin (28) — were indeed left behind and their bodies were recovered after a rescue operation that lasted seven hours.
Officials said they received a report about waterlogging from the IAS Research Centre in Lau at around 7pm on Saturday.
While police are investigating the cause of the flooding, locals have blamed the area’s poor drainage system, which they say is badly clogged with silt and overflowing, leading to flood-like conditions every time it rains.
Another video showed the road in front of the coaching school submerged in waist-high water.
The Delhi Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) and formed multiple teams to investigate the case, with investigations so far revealing multiple shortcomings on the part of the owner and civic authorities.
Delhi Fire Chief Atul Garg said there was no option to drain the water from the basement.
The three-storey coaching centre for civil services exam preparation had its building plans approved by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) department in 2021, falsely stating that it was being used as a storehouse as per the building plans and the fire department’s No Objection Certificate (NOC).
“The building has fire safety norms but the norms listed the basement as a storeroom. The institute management was using the same rooms as classrooms and a library, which is in violation of the norms,” Garg said.
Several students staged protests, seeking justice for the civil service aspirants who lost their lives and demanding action against those responsible for their deaths and compensation to the bereaved families.
Meanwhile, the institute said it was “deeply saddened by the loss of these promising young men who were preparing to serve the nation with dedication and commitment.”
“The IAS Study Circle at RAU is committed to supporting the ongoing investigation into this tragic incident. We are fully cooperating with the relevant authorities and agencies to ensure that all necessary information is provided and that the investigation is carried out with utmost diligence,” the statement said.
The owner and coordinator of Lau’s IAS study circle were arrested and charged with manslaughter.
