Court refuses Old Rajendra Nagar coaching centre CEO access to building

A Delhi court on Wednesday refused to allow the chief executive officer (CEO) of Rau’s IAS Study Circle to access the building, where three IAS aspirants drowned in the basement in Old Rajendra Nagar, to resume classes for students in the other floors.
“I am of the view that no sufficient ground to direct grant of access to the upper floors of the building is made out. The application is accordingly dismissed,” said additional chief judicial magistrate Nishant Garg.
The court, in its order, noted that despite a show-cause notice being issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) pointing out that the premises was being used contrary to the provisions of the Master Plan for Delhi, no steps were taken to stop the misuse of the premises.
“In spite (of) a specific complaint by a student Kishore Singh Kushwaha on 26.06.2024, no steps were taken to stop the illegal use of basement,” the court added.
The court was hearing an application moved by Abhishek Gupta, the owner and CEO of Rau’s IAS, seeking access to premises of Rau’s IAS Study Circle, except its basement, in Old Rajendra Nagar.
The application was moved claiming that the entire building is barricaded when none of the floors, except the basement, has any connection to the case. It was pointed out that non-access to the upper floors is causing grave hardship to the students who are not able to attend offline classes, thus access may be granted to conduct classes.
The application was opposed by the public prosecutor stating that access to the building cannot be granted without granting access to the stilt area, which is also the subject matter of investigation.
The counsel for one of the victims also opposed the application stating that institute was being run from the building in complete violation of the building bylaws, which has resulted in the death of three innocent students and it is yet to be established that the building was constructed as per the sanction plan and that is has all requisite permissions from the authorities concerned.
The court while denying the permission noted that the application is premised on the fact that non-access is hampering the studies of the students and to support the same 121 emails allegedly written by students or their parents have been attached.
However, the court further observed that 105 of the total 121 emails were sent on one day and the remaining over the next two days and the content of most of them is similar and in many cases identical.
“It is not clear what prompted so many students to make enquiries about resumption of classes on a single day. The content of the emails of most of the students is similar and in many cases, identical. In these circumstances, the authenticity of these emails is highly suspected,” the court said.
It was also observed that the building was being used without a fire safety certificate till July 2024, when a certificate was issued by the Delhi Fire Services after the building was found fit for occupancy class “Educational Coaching Center” with a directive that the basement be used strictly as per building bylaws.
“It is not clear how occupancy certificate was issued for the building in 2021 without the requisite fire safety certificate. It is further not clear on what basis the fire safety certificate was issued, without noticing the existence of a library in the basement either by the DFS or MCD during the inspection purportedly carried out on 01.07.2024,” the court said in the order dismissing the application.
The court, however, in the interest of the students who had opted offline, and hybrid coaching and have paid fees higher than those who had opted online mode, allowed for classes to be conducted at any other suitable premises.
The matter before the court was regarding the tragedy that took place on July 27 in Old Rajendra Nagar, and claimed the lives of Tanya Soni, 21, Shreya Yadav, 25, and Nevin Delvin, 29, who drowned when the basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle flooded within no time, leaving no chance for them to escape.
Gupta was arrested in the case on July 28 and was produced before the court shortly after his arrest from where he was sent to judicial custody and has been in custody since then.
The Delhi Police, who was initially conducting the probe in the case, also arrested five other accused in the case.