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Security personnel stand guard near the Rau’s IAS Study Circle in New Delhi. (PTI)
A UPSC aspirant, Kishor Singh Kushwah, filed the complaint against the coaching centre last month for flouting the infrastructure norms.
A complaint regarding the alleged illegal use of the basement as a library by the Rau’s IAS Study Circle in New Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar was filed with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) days before three Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirant students drowned in the flooded basement the institution.
According to a report by Indian Express, a UPSC aspirant, Kishor Singh Kushwah, filed the complaint against the coaching centre last month for flouting the infrastructure norms and illegal use of basement.
He had also complained about the coaching institute running a classroom without an NOC in the basement. In his complaint he had alerted about the dangerous practice.
“Despite not having permission, the institute is running a classroom without NOC in the basement. Big UPSC coaching institutes are running classes at illegal places by putting the lives of the students at risk. There is a danger and possibility of a major accident, so I had informed the concerned organisation in this regard about the corruption in the MCD,” Kushwah said in his complaint.
Kushwaha had sent two reminders on July 15 and July 22, just five days before the tragic incident took place. No action, however, was taken in the days that followed. “Under process”, reads the “current status” of the online complaint.
MCD’s crackdown on coaching institutes:
After the tragic incident came into limelight, the MCD started action against illegal coaching centres and vowed to set up a high-level committee to probe the flooding of the basement of the coaching institute which led to three civil services aspirants’ deaths.
A team of the civic body reached the Old Rajinder Nagar area to seal several illegally-run basements of coaching centres, a statement by the Delhi government said. Around 13 such coaching centres were sealed during the action till late Sunday night.
These included IAS Gurukul, Chahal Academy, Plutus Academy, Sai Trading, IAS Setu, Topper’s Academy, Dainik Samvad, Civils Daily IAS, Career Power, 99 Notes, Vidya Guru, Guidance IAS, and Easy for IAS.
“These coaching centres were found to be operating in basements in violation of rules and they were sealed on the spot and notices were pasted,” the statement said.
What happened at Rau’s academy?
Three students drowned to their death in the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle coaching centre after it was flooded due to heavy rain on Saturday.
The basement was eight feet below the ground level and several students were present in it when the incident took place on Saturday evening.
Disaster rescue teams retrieved the bodies of two females and one male from the site after seven hours. Police identified the victims as Shreya Yadav (25) of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana and Navin Dalwin (28) from Ernakulam in Kerala.
The owner and coordinator of the coaching centre were arrested and booked under charges of culpable homicide among others. Police identified the owner as Abhishek Gupta and the other accused as Deshpal Singh. Both the accused were sent to 14 days of judicial custody.