UPSC aspirants death: Delhi court grants bail to passerby car driver

A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Manuj Kathuria who was arrested by Delhi Police for driving his sports utility vehicle (SUV) through the flooded roads in Rajendra Nagar which allegedly caused the flood water to inundate an IAS coaching centre basement resulting in the death of three civil services aspirants..Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Rakesh Kumar passed the order granting bail to Kathuria. The Court said that Delhi Police implicated Kathuria in "over-enthusiasm".It further ruled that case under Section 105 of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for causing death by negligence is not made out against Kathuria.The rest of the offences invoked against him are bailable and therefore, he can be granted bail, the Court ordered.On Wednesday, Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar had rejected the bail petitions filed by Kathuria and four co-owners of the basement Tejinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh and Sarabjeet Singh. They then moved the Sessions Court..Kathuria has been accused of driving his Force Gurkha car through the street that was flooded by rainwater. This caused the water to swell and breach the gates of the three-storeyed building of Rau's IAS Study Circle inundating its basement. Many students were trapped in the basement and three of them passed away. .Kathuria’s lawyer argued that he is not even connected to the incident and cannot be blamed for the deaths.Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa appeared for Kathuria and stated that essential scientific data like the cubic volume of water present on the road at the time of the incident, the amount of water allegedly displaced by the Kathuria's car and the tensile strength of the iron door that was supposedly affected by the displaced water has not been presented before the Court. Pahwa argued that without these crucial measurements, it is impossible to establish a direct causal link between Kathuria's actions and the damage caused to the coaching centre.Meanwhile, the Delhi Police told the Court that at this stage, the offence of death due to negligence is not established against Kathuria. After considering the arguments, the Court granted bail to him.The bail plea of the other four accused will be heard on Friday..The Delhi High Court had also questioned Delhi Police on Wednesday for Kathuria in the case. It had termed the investigation “strange”."What is police doing catching passersby driver? Have you questioned the person who has not done the desilting?" Acting Chief Justice Manmohan had asked when hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in relation to the flooding.The High Court has sought report from the Delhi Police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in the matter and said it will hear the case on August 2..Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa along with advocates Rakesh Malhotra, Bharat Malhotra, Kushal Malhotra, Sahil Ahuja and RK Tripathi appeared for Manuj Kathuria.Delhi Police was represented through Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava. .[Read Order]