New Delhi, Feb 3 The CBI on Tuesday submitted its reply in a local court, saying no further investigation was required in the case pertaining to the death of civil service aspirants in a flooded basement of a coaching centre in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area on the evening of July 27, 2024.
The central agency, which underlined that all evidence had been collected and examined from various perspectives, filed its response to a protest petition seeking further investigation by the father of a deceased aspirant.
Abhijit Anand, counsel for Dalvin Suresh, the father of the deceased Nevin Dalvin, had filed the petition alleging the central agency's investigating officer (IO) did not conduct "a free and fair investigation."
"The entire investigation has been conducted in a sham and casual manner and has not been investigated from all angles, as per the direction of the Delhi High Court," the petition dated January 9 claimed.
On Tuesday, the CBI filed its response to the plea before Principal District and Sessions Judge Dinesh Bhatt of the Rouse Avenue Courts.
It said, "The investigation has been conducted fairly, thoroughly, and in accordance with law, including the directions of the Delhi High Court. There is no justification for any further investigation, as all material evidence has been collected and examined from all relevant angles."
According to the reply, the investigation was thorough, unbiased, and complete, and all relevant facts and material having a bearing on the outcome of the case were duly examined and placed on record.
It denied the allegation that the IO had colluded with any accused person or Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and fire services officials.
"It may be highlighted that the report of the district magistrate is primarily concerned with the departmental lapses; however, the departmental lapses may not translate to criminal misconduct on the part of the public servants. The aspect of criminal negligence/misconduct was fully investigated in this case," the reply said.
It said the role of Delhi Jal Board officials, the deputy commissioners of MCD Karol Bagh Zone and engineers concerned were thoroughly investigated.
"It has been established during the course of investigation that there used to be waterlogging in the concerned area of Old Rajinder Nagar," the CBI submitted, adding that, the aspect of running the coaching centre from the basement of the building has also been established during the probe and is part of the charges against the accused public servants as well as private persons named in the chargesheet.
The CBI filed its chargesheet on September 24, 2024, and a supplementary final report was filed on April 24 the next year.
Regarding the building's height, the reply said its height was less than 15 metres, also noting that the issue of fire no-objection certificate (NOC) to the building has been investigated in detail and put on record.
The court on Tuesday also heard the arguments in favour of the protest petition submitted by the counsel for the deceased's father.
Advocate Anand argued that the central agency had not investigated the matter from all angles, alleging that the building's height was above 15 meters, and that the CBI was "safeguarding" several key officers.
He underlined several grounds for further investigation, claiming certain crucial aspects had been overlooked by the agency.
The court will continue hearing arguments on the matter on Wednesday.
Earlier, on August 2, 2024, the Delhi High Court had transferred the case to the CBI, directing "a full-fledged investigation", including but not limited to criminal negligence, dereliction of duties, and corrupt practices.
It had pulled up the police for not questioning any MCD official or even seizing relevant files from the civic body, which, it held, could have been important piece of evidence.
The way the police were proceeding in the matter, it could have "fined the water, saying 'how dare it enter the coaching centre's basement," the high court had said, slamming the police probe.
