Coaching centre deaths: Case transferred to CBI, Delhi HC slams police, MCD
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday entrusted the probe into the drowning of three civil services aspirants at the basement of a coaching centre here from Delhi Police to the CBI.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said having regard to the nature of the incident and to ensure that the public has no doubt with regards to investigation, this court transfers the probe to the CBI.
The court asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to appoint a senior officer to oversee the probe by the CBI in the criminal case.
The court also castigated the police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) over the drowning incident, saying it was unable to fathom how the students could not come out and sought to know whether the doors were blocked or staircases narrow.
The court noted administratively Delhi has a multiplicity of authorities which are only passing the buck and doing nothing and the public perception is that civic authorities are inefficient.
The court noted the stormwater drains in the area were dysfunctional, and also ordered the removal of encroachments and unauthorised constructions, including sewage drains, in the Rajinder Nagar area where the incident took place.
The bench also felt it is time to have a relook at Delhi's administrative, financial and physical infrastructure, the bench said and formed a committee headed by the chief secretary to deal with the issue.
Slamming the police, the court said, "Mercifully, you have not challaned rainwater for entering into the basement, the way you arrested the SUV driver for driving his car there."
Manuj Kathuria was accused of driving his SUV through the street that was flooded by rainwater on July 27, causing the water to swell and breach the gates of the three-storey building housing the coaching centre and inundate the basement, where the three students were drowned.
The court was hearing a plea by an organisation Kutumb seeking a high-level committee to investigate into the incident.