Coaching centre deaths: HC dismisses plea seeking to restrain CBI from filing charge sheet

New Delhi

The Delhi high court on Tuesday dismissed an application filed by the father of one of three IAS aspirants who drowned at a coaching centre in the city, which sought to restrain the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from filing its charge sheet in the case.

A bench of justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma opined that the relief which the relative had sought was “beyond the law”, and that the high court lacked the jurisdiction to interfere with the ongoing investigation.

“I consider that the request being made is just beyond the law. CBI is in the process of conducting the investigation. There is no law in which the court can either direct for filing the charge sheet or stay the filing of charge sheet,” justice Sharma said in the order.

“The prayer being made by the petition. Application is dismissed. There is no jurisdiction with the court to stay the investigation,” the court said.

To be sure, though the high court dismissed the plea, it sought CBI’s response in the petition, and fixed November 27 as the next date of hearing.

The case in question involves the July 27 death of three IAS aspirants — Tanya Soni, Shreya Yadav, and Nevin Delvin — who had enrolled themselves with a coaching centre in Old Rajendra Nagar in central Delhi, who drowned after the library of the institute, which was illegally operating out of the building’s basement flooded following heavy rain.

In his application, Dalvin’s father Dalvin J Suresh contended that the investigating officer (IO) was not conducting the probe in terms of the high court’s August 2 order. In the said order, the high court, while transferring the probe from the Delhi Police to CBI, had directed the chief central vigilance commissioner to nominate a senior officer to oversee the progress of the investigation and ensure that it is completed at the earliest.

Suresh’s application went on to allege that though the high court had asked CBI to conduct a full-fledged investigation, including but not limited to criminal negligence, dereliction of duties, and corrupt practices, the federal probe agency was not carrying out a free and fair investigation. It stated that the IO till now had not arrested any Delhi Fire Services or MCD official, nor other partners and directors of Rau’s IAS Study Circle, the coaching centre in question.

The current application was filedin a petition which challenged a city court’s September 20 order that rejected a plea by Suresh to change the IO in the case. The city court had observed that the court cannot monitor the investigation, direct change of the IO, or direct the arrest of people involved in the commission of an offence since it does not have the power under section 156(3) of CrPC to direct CBI to register a first information report (FIR) and conduct a probe into an offence.