NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday deferred the decision on whether to take cognisance of the chargesheet in the case related to the death of three UPSC aspirants in a basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajender Nagar in July this year.
The court of additional chief judicial magistrate Nishant Garg will hear the matter on October 29.
The CBI, on September 26, filed a chargesheet in the court naming six people in its chargesheet Abhishek Gupta, CEO of Rau’s IAS Circle, Deshpal Singh, coaching coordinator, and four co-owners of the basement Sarabjit Singh, Parvinder Singh, Tejinder Singh, and Harinder Singh for offences of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and criminal conspiracy.
The CBI did not name SUV driver Manuj Kathuria as no evidence was found against him. On August 1, Kathuria got bail after Delhi police stated that the offence under Section 105 of BNS (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was not sufficiently established at this stage.
The agency on Tuesday submitted before the court that it filed the chargesheet on the basis of evidence found during the investigation. It said that Deshpal was managing the coaching centre and there were 25-30 students in the basement when the incident took place. CBI told the court that the building’s level is two feet below in comparison with other buildings adjacent to it. It also said the library was being operated in the basement illegally.
Advocate Abhijeet Anand, counsel for one of the victims, Nevin Dalvil’s father J Dalvil Suresh, objected to the filing of the chargesheet and submitted before the court that the chargesheet should be sent back to CBI as no investigation was done on the point of corruption. The counsel said that the basement where the aspirants died was used illegally for other purposes than it was taken on lease for.
CBI, responding to the queries of the court, said that Gupta signed the agreement with four joint owners and all of them knew that it would be used for coaching classes and not for storage with the rent of Rs 4.5 lakh.
The agency said that the slider gate was acting as a dam to check the water from entering, which broke due to the passing of a vehicle, and the basement got flooded, claiming the lives of three aspirants.
Shreya Yadav (25) of Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana, and Nevin Delvin (24) from Kerala died after the basement of the building was flooded following heavy rain in central Delhi’s Old Rajender Nagar on July 27. A total of seven persons were arrested in the case Manuj Kathuria, the SUV driver, four co-owners of the basement, CEO Abhishek Gupta, and Coaching Centre Coordinator Deshpal Singh. All seven got bail now.
On August 2, the case was transferred to the CBI from Delhi Police after Delhi High Court’s directions. On August 6, the agency filed a case in the matter against the coaching centre owner, Abhishek Gupta, under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 106 (1) (causing death by negligence), 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 290 (negligent conduct when constructing, repairing, or pulling down buildings), and 3 (5) (joint criminal liability when two or more people act with a common intention to commit a criminal act). Gupta, along with Deshpal Singh, was arrested on July 28. The four joint owners were also apprehended on the evening of July 28.
