Basement was a death trap

Opposition parties in the national Capital on Sunday described as "murder" the death of three civil services aspirants due to flooding of a building's basement, even as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi dubbed it as a corollary of 'collective and systemic failure.

The police, in a knee-jerk response, arrested the owner and the coordinator of the Rau's IAS Study Circle and booked them for culpable homicide and under other charges.

Earlier this week, a 26-yearold civil services aspirant was electrocuted after he touched an iron gate following heavy rain in central Delhi's Patel Nagar area. The basement of the coaching centre, eight feet below ground level, was being used as a makeshift library by the students. More than 18 students were present on the premises when water gushed in following heavy rain. It was a veritable death trap given that the basement does not have a drainage system.