IIT experts examined gate of Delhi coaching center where 3 IAS aspirants drowned: CBI

A team of experts from IIT Delhi on Aug 25 examined the gate of the building housing the Rau's IAS Study Circle where three IAS aspirants drowned in a basement flooding in July, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) probing the incident told a special court in Delhi on Aug 29.

A SUV caused the water to swell and breach the gate of the building, the CBI informed the court.

The investigating agency in its report submitted before the court said the experts took measurements of the vehicle and the gate.

The SUV driver accused of driving his vehicle through a flooded road in front of Rau's coaching centre was arrested and his Force Gurkha was seized by police after the incident.

The CBI stated that the SUV will also be inspected by a domain expert, a motor vehicle inspector. The agency sought an additional week to have the vehicle examined by the inspector. This request comes in response to the SUV owner's plea for the release of his vehicle.

The CBI investigation citing the postmortem report has revealed that the three UPSC aspirants, Shreya Yadav, Tanya Soni, & Nevin Dalvin, died due to asphyxia caused by drowning.

The probe also found that several students were studying in the basement of the coaching centre during the heavy rain, PTI reported.

"All the floors including basement were used by the said coaching institute. The basement was used for library purposes where students used to sit throughout the day studying as well as for taking tests conducted by coaching institute," CBI in its report said.

"The rainwater entered the ground floor due to the sudden fall of sliding gates of the main building and subsequently entered the basement resulting in its flooding” mentioned the CBI report.

The case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder [Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Section 105], initially handled by the Delhi Police, was transferred to the CBI by the Delhi High Court on Aug 2.

Meanwhile, the jailed co-owners of the coaching centre moved to the Delhi High Court, seeking bail in the criminal case against them. The four co-owners have pleaded that they are the landlords of the basement, which was rented out to the coaching centre, and therefore had no role in the incident.