UPSC aspirants meet MCD commissioner, flag safety concerns at Delhi's coaching centres

NEW DELHI: A delegation of UPSC aspirants met MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar at the agency headquarters here on Wednesday amid protests that have erupted following the death of three students at a coaching centre in the national capital. The students have approached Kumar to discuss the poor safety measures at several coaching centres that pose a threat to their lives, among other issues. The meeting is currently underway, a civic body official said. Meanwhile, the protest by civil services aspirants at central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar, against the July 27 incident which claimed three lives, entered the fourth day on Wednesday. Students protestors said a coordination committee comprising 15 members has been formed to decide the protest's future course of action and communicate with the authorities concerned.

"We have formed a 15-member committee and the committee members will decide further course of action," said Goutam, a civil services aspirant. Aspirants from different coaching centres have been staging a dharna in front of Rau's Study Circle from Sunday. Some students also began a hunger strike on Tuesday against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to press their demands. "We will continue our protest till our demands are met," another student Sunil Kumar said.

Senior police officers are visiting the protest site and interacting with the demonstrators to understand their demands, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) M Harsha Vardhan said. DCP Vardhan said, "On Tuesday, committee members formed by the students had met Delhi LG. I have also given them (students) information about what action has been taken, and how far the investigation has gone."

Questioning by Delhi Police

The Delhi Police on Tuesday questioned VP Gupta, the father-in-law of the owner of the coaching centre. The police have also asked four municipal officers to join the investigation. A senior police officer said that they questioned Gupta about ownership rights of the coaching centre, adding that they may also call Rau's IAS Study Circle owner Abhishek Gupta's wife for questioning.

Incident and arrest details

Five people, including four co-owners of basement of the building where the coaching centre was functioning were arrested. The driver of an SUV which drove through the flooded street, causing the water to swell and breach the gates of the three-storey building and inundate the basement, was among the five arrested. The SUV was also seized. Three students identified as Shreya Yadav, Tanya Soni, and Nevin Dalvin have died in the incident after rain water gushed inside of basement of a coaching institute building in Old Rajinder Nagar on July 27 evening.