New Delhi, March 13 – A Delhi court has directed the CBI to conduct further investigation into the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) regarding potential dereliction of duties or corrupt practices that led to the drowning of three civil services aspirants in an illegal coaching center in the Old Rajinder Nagar area in 2024.
Principal District and Sessions Judge Dinesh Bhatt of the Rouse Avenue Courts allowed a petition filed by the father of one of the deceased aspirants, seeking further investigation.
Abhijit Anand, representing Dalvin Suresh, the father of deceased Nevin Dalvin, argued that the investigating officer (IO) of the central agency had not conducted a "fair and impartial investigation."
In a 20-page order on Thursday, the court directed the IO to "conduct a thorough investigation into the issue of potential dereliction of duties or corrupt practices by MCD officials, which led to the continued illegal use of the basement, resulting in the loss of innocent lives, and to file a report in accordance with the law."
The court stated that the agency failed to investigate the dereliction of duties by civic body officials who allowed the occupants of the building (Rau's IAS Study Circle) "to continue their illegal and unauthorized activities in the basement, leading to the death of three innocent students."
The court cited the Delhi High Court's August 2024 order transferring the case to the CBI, specifically directing it to conduct a full investigation into the incident.
"It has also been observed that three young lives were lost apparently due to greed and/or negligence and/or failure to fulfill their duties," the order stated.
The court also expressed skepticism over the CBI's decision to only charge a junior engineer from the Karol Bagh Zone, without naming any senior official.
"Given the background of the case, where a large structure with over six floors was used by hundreds of students for several years, the civic authorities had a duty to report any non-compliance or violation of laws on a daily basis," it said.
The court also expressed disbelief that none of the junior engineers' supervisors were aware of the illegal and unauthorized use of the basement.
There could have been a deliberate attempt to ignore or permit the illegal use of the basement, the court said.
"The investigation has revealed that the junior engineer of the zone merely put up a photograph dated August 3, 2024, along with a note stating that the institute was not complying with the provisions of the Master Plan for Delhi (MPD) 2021, and this note was taken up by the relevant officers in the hierarchy, and finally a show cause notice was issued to the occupants."
"However, there were no details of inspection or violation found in either the note or the show cause notice," the court said.
In a scathing criticism of the process, the court stated that the civic body officials did not conduct any inspection, or they specifically omitted details of violations by providing a general view "to circumvent or create a false impression of compliance" with the high court's order.
The court noted that none of the higher officials bothered to find out if there was any violation, and did not even ask their subordinate officers why they had not specified the shortcomings that were found at the site.
The court emphasized that the low-lying area was prone to waterlogging and flooding, and there had been several incidents of flooding in the basement before the incident.
"It is therefore difficult to believe that the entire hierarchy of the MCD officials would have no knowledge of this," it said.
Judge Bhatt noted that after issuing a show cause notice to the coaching institute, the MCD officials only asked for the production of the fire NOC and no further compliance was noted or requested.
"Even after they had received a complaint specifically pointing out that the coaching center was being illegally run in the basement and the area was prone to waterlogging, no action was taken," the judge said.
Regarding this complaint, the judge noted that the IO pointed out that it was received late because of "some technical failure."
The court chastised the IO by saying, "The records reviewed in this regard show that the complaint dated June 26, 2024, and the reminder were received in the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC), MCD, on July 18, but even then no action was taken until July 27, when the incident (of drowning deaths) had occurred."
The judge said, "Simply saying that the lowest official in the hierarchy did not perform his duty will not suffice in this matter, as it was the duty of the supervising officers to ensure that the necessary compliance was being carried out on the ground."