New Delhi: "What is the Delhi Police doing? Have they lost it?" wondered the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, while castigating the police for arresting an SUV driver for his alleged role in the drowning of three civil services aspirants at a coaching centre here.
About The Case
The case against the driver is that he drove his Force Gurkha car through the flooded street outside the coaching centre, causing the water to displace and breach the gates of the building, from where the IAS Study Circle was operating, and inundating the basement.
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The strong words of the high court, however, did not come to the rescue of the jailed driver whose bail plea was dismissed by a magisterial court later in the day. The Judicial Magistrate rejected the bail plea of the driver after the Delhi police derisively dubbed him a "mastikhor." The court noted that the allegations against the accused Manuj Kathuria were "serious in nature" and observed that the CCTV footage showed he was "warned of the dangers ahead by some passers-by, but he did not pay any heed".
The lower court further noted that the accused could be seen driving at a high speed on an already heavily waterlogged road, causing a large displacement of water, which entered the basement and "resulted in the loss of innocent lives". In the high court, however, the two-judge bench chose to comment on the absurdity of it all, by pointing out that the Delhi Police was taking action against an SUV driver who happened to be driving outside the IAS centre but not acting against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials.
"What is the Delhi Police doing? Have they lost it? What are its officials, who are monitoring the probe, doing? This is a cover-up or what?" the court said.
‘‘Has any official been caught or interrogated? Have they interrogated the official who has not de-silted this drain? Was the drain de-silted properly and in time?” the court asked.
The court said it was strange that no MCD official has been hauled up till now.
"We don't know whether the Investigating Officer has seen the de-silting plan or the approved building construction plan. We have no idea whether he has investigated the role of MCD officials," the bench said.
