Delhi UPSC aspirants death: Chief Secretary’s report reveals Rau’s Study Circle ‘completely’ blocked drainage system

Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar submitted a Magisterial Enquiry report to Revenue Minister Atishi on Tuesday revealing that Rau's Study Circle coaching center in Old Rajinder Nagar, where three civil services aspirants tragically died in a basement flood, had violated several safety norms.

The report revealed that Rau's Study Circle coaching center had completely obstructed the drainage system and failed to implement additional safeguards to prevent such incidents, contributing to the flooding and resulting deaths.

“The parking access to the institute is directly exposed to the road and in case of heavy rain, water instead of going into the stormwater drain enters directly into this parking area,” the report added.

The Delhi Chief Secretary's report also indicated that the Assistant Engineer (M-1)/KBZ, responsible for the area’s drainage system, has been suspended immediately and the services of the Junior Engineer (M-1)/KBZ have been terminated.

"Executive Engineer (M-1) has been show caused for seeking an explanation on the incident..,” the report noted.

Three IAS aspirants—Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Nevin Dalwin from Kerala—tragically died when the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle coaching institute in Old Rajinder Nagar flooded after heavy rain on the evening of July 27.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court has agreed to hear on Wednesday a plea seeking to constitute a high-level committee to probe the incident.

On Monday, Municipal Corporation of Delhi initiated a three-pronged action in the aftermath of the Old Rajinder Nagar coaching centre deaths.

MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar stated that the problem of poorly secured, illegally run coaching centers is widespread across Delhi. He assured that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will address this issue with a sealing drive targeting such institutes.

“Firstly, we have demolished the encroachment on the stormwater drains built on both sides of the road that was completely covered by people which led to waterlogging and even made it difficult to de-silt the drains. We have also carried out an anti-encroachment drive to demolish illegal structures and recover these drains in the area.”

“Secondly, we have stepped up sealing of basements of coaching institutes illegally operating and posing threat to the safety and security of students.

“Thirdly, we have taken action against the engineers of the maintenance department responsible for containing the waterlogging,” Kumar said.