The Delhi Police on Monday arrested the driver of an SUV who allegedly drove through the waterlogged road, further breaking off the gates at Rau's IAS coaching center in Old Rajinder Nagar, where three UPSC aspirants died due to flooding on Saturday.
The driver was one of five people arrested by the Delhi Police on Monday in connection with the coaching centre tragedy. So far, seven people, including Abhishek Gupta, the owner of Rau's IAS Study Centre, have been arrested in the case.
DCP (Central) M Harshvardhan said, “Five more persons, including owners of the basement space where the coaching centre was being run, have been taken into custody. This also includes a man who drove an SUV and damaged the gate of the building, leading to rainwater gushing into the basement and causing flooding.”
Harshvardhan stated that the driver of the Force Gurkha was arrested under charges including BNS Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
The DCP stated that the SUV driver was arrested after a widely shared video on social media showed him driving past the coaching institute at high speed. The building's gate was later found damaged.
The police used CCTV footage from the area to identify the driver and his vehicle.
“Negligence has been established on the part of the arrested driver, who has been arrested in the Old Rajinder Nagar case. He was driving the vehicle very fast, due to which the gate of the coaching centre broke. Before he hit the building gate, a street vendor had tried to stop him,” the DCP said.
The police said that the water flow increased and flooded the institute after the vehicle passed by.
"At the beginning of the video, the gate of the coaching institute was fine, but after the car passed, it broke and fell down. The accused driver has no connection with the coaching owner or the building owner," Harshvardhan added.
Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Nevin Dalwin from Kerala died when the basement of Rau's Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar flooded during heavy rain.
The owner and coordinator of the coaching centre have been arrested and charged with culpable homicide and other offenses.