CBI to probe of 3 IAS aspirants’ death
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Friday transferred the probe into the drowning of three IAS aspirants at the basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajendra Nagar to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as it hauled up the police, civic body and state government, saying that the entire system in Delhi needed a relook in light of the city’s “outdated” infrastructure.
The court lambasted the police for the probe into the incident that has triggered a national outrage, criticised the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for failing to act against the officials responsible for the tragedy, and pulled up the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for not upgrading the city’s administrative, physical and financial infrastructure.
“Having regard to the nature of the incident and to ensure that the public has no doubt with regards to the investigation, this court transfers the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Since the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) exercises supervisory power, this court directs the Commissioner to appoint a member to supervise the probe,” the court said in its order.
The court’s order to transfer the probe to CBI is a significant indictment of entire administrative setup in Delhi, including the state government, high-ranking bureaucrats, the office of the lieutenant governor (LG), and the Delhi Police.
The judicial intervention highlighted the deep-seated issues of accountability, governance and systemic neglect in the national capital at a time when the conflict between LG VK Saxena and the Delhi government over who controls the Capital’s administrative machinery is at a boiling point. The coaching centre tragedy has only intensified the political blame game, with each side accusing the other of negligence.
On July 27, Tanya Soni, 21, Shreya Yadav, 25, and Nevin Dalvin, 29, drowned when the basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle coaching centre flooded following heavy localised rainfall, highlighting the dire state of the city’s civic infrastructure that buckles under bad weather and raises questions about how building safety regulations are enforced. The basement, originally designated for parking and storage, was being used as a library, contrary to the building plan.