Delhi: 3 civil service aspirants killed in coaching flooding, BJP blames AAP

Three aspiring civil servants died after they were trapped in the flooded basement of a coaching centre in Delhi’s Old Rajendra Nagar on Saturday.

According to the police, the Delhi fire department received a call regarding waterlogging at the Rao IAS Study Centre around 7 pm after which they launched a rescue operation. The police have registered a criminal case over the deaths of the students.

Here are the latest updates on the Delhi coaching incident:

Initially, the body of a female student was retrieved from the site during the rescue operation by the NDRF, local police and fire department. Hours later, the bodies of two other students were also found.

The police said that there were around 30 students inside the coaching centre when it started flooding. While 13 to 14 of them were rescued and taken to the hospital, others escaped the site.

Fire Officer Atul Garg said that five fire vehicles reached the spot after they received information about the flooding.

According to DCP Central M Harshavardhan, the rescue operations were still underway and the water was being pumped out. “There is still about seven feet of water in the basement,” he told news agency ANI. However, the rescue operation is moving towards a conclusion as only one final round of search is pending, the police said.

Amid this, a group of students staged a protest against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) at the spot after the recovery of the bodies of the three students. On Sunday morning, the students were seen raising slogans of ‘We want justice.’ According to one of the students, water gets logged at the centre within 10 minutes of rainfall. “80 per cent of libraries are in the basements of the coaching centre…MCD has not taken action on this,” the student said.

However, the police urged students not to carry out the protest as it would hamper the rescue operations. “I request the student community to not come here and hamper the rescue services. We share their pain, but coming here to the spot is not the solution. It will hamper the rescue services,” DCP Central, M Harshavardhan, said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi police have registered a criminal case and detained two people. The DCP asserted that the police were determined to find out the truth in the tragic incident where three people lost their lives. “We have registered a criminal case. Our forensic teams are here. The process of collecting forensic evidence is underway. We are committed to the fact that we should have a proper investigation. We are committed to registering a strong case and finding out the truth,” he said.

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva slammed the AAP government, saying that the “corruption” in the MCP must be inquired. “There should be an inquiry into the corruption of Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi and their government. Delhi Municipal Corporation’s corruption should be inquired. There should be an inquiry as to why the drainage was not cleaned. Will they order an inquiry into this?” he said.

BJP leader Shehzad Poonwalla also slammed the Kejriwal-led party, calling the incident a “murder” committed by AAP. “It is criminal negligence… The question is, who will take the responsibility…There have been several deaths. Do the lives of the people of Delhi hold no value? Arvind Kejriwal and his government’s priority is press conferences, advertisements and blame games…AAP is responsible for this. AAP’s priority is to save Kejriwal from the liquor scam, but they don’t care about the lives of the residents of Delhi,” he said in a video message.

Meanwhile, Delhi minister Atishi said that whoever is responsible for the incident will “not be spared”. “I am taking updates on the incident every minute. A magistrate has been ordered to investigate how this incident happened,” she wrote in a post on X in Hindi.