HC transfers Civil Services aspirants death case from police to CBI
The Hindu
Delhi High Court transfers drowning probe to CBI, criticizes police and orders infrastructure revamp in Capital.
The Delhi High Court on Friday transferred the probe into the drowning of three Civil Services aspirants in the basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar on July 27 from Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court said it took the decision after taking into account “the seriousness of incidents and that it may involve corruption by public servants”.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the Central Vigilance Commission to appoint a senior official to oversee the CBI probe in a time-bound manner.
The court wondered how the police arrested the SUV driver who was driving past the institute where the incident took place instead of the official who did not notice that the stormwater drain in the area was dysfunctional. It pulled up the police for not questioning any Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) official or even seizing the relevant file from the civic body, which could have been an important piece of evidence.
“Mercifully, you have not challaned the rainwater for entering the basement...You would have said, ‘How dare the water enter the basement’. You could have fined the water also, the way you arrested the SUV driver for driving his car there,” the Bench remarked.
It constituted a committee to revamp and reform the administrative, financial, and physical infrastructure in the Capital after observing that the city was heading “from one crisis to another”, but due to the multiplicity of authorities, each authority was passing the buck to the other.
The panel, headed by the Delhi Chief Secretary and comprising the DDA Vice-Chairperson, Delhi Police Commissioner, and MCD commissioner, was asked to submit its report within eight weeks.
The court said Delhi’s physical infrastructure is nearly 75 years old and that it was not only inadequate but poorly maintained.