The Delhi police has arrested five more people in connection with the death of three UPSC aspirants in Old Rajinder Nagar after their coaching centre library got flooded following a drain burst. This brings the total number of arrests to seven.

The latest arrests include owners of the basement where the incident occurred, and the car driver who damaged the building’s gate.

Speaking to a news agency, DCP (central) M Harshavardhan said, “Whoever is at fault in this incident will not be spared. We are taking strict action against those responsible for the incident and maintaining law and order in the area.”

He confirmed the arrests, adding, “Five more people, including owners of the basement and a man who drove a vehicle which appears to have damaged the gate of the building, have also been taken into custody. There was no permission to carry out commercial activity in the basement. We have sought some information from Muncipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and we will examine their role too. The investigation is going on from all angles.”

He also appealed to protesting students to maintain peace and not block the main road. “We appeal to the protesting students to maintain peace and not block the main roads, and have confidence that strict action is being taken in this case.”

According to the Delhi Police, negligence has been established on the part of the car driver who drove his vehicle too fast and damaged the building gate.

“He was driving the vehicle very fast due to which the gate of the coaching centre broke. Before he hit the building gate, a street vendor had tried to stop him,” the police said.

Meanwhile, Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor and Jebi Mather on Monday visited RML Hospital here to meet the bereaved families.

Tharoor expressed his sorrow and condemnation of the incident, stating, “This is shameful, there is no doubt about it…The dreams of those youth have been shattered, the hopes of their families have been snuffed too. This is extremely saddening for the country, its future and the future of the youth. What solution can you bring forth when a life is lost?…Yes, compensation should be provided. What is most important is to ensure that this does not happen again so that nobody has to suffer through the same loss again…”

Mather, addressing the gravity of the situation, said, “Family of the boy from Kerala is here and the postmortem is going to happen, so we do not want to make this an issue at the moment but the fact remains that there was gross failure on the part of both the government and the MCD and such instances are becoming very common because such coaching centres with no proper facilities are cropping up. I raised this case in Parliament and I have received an answer but right now since the family is here, we do not want to make it an issue at that level because we stand with the families and those three deceased…”

The Congress has demanded a CBI probe into the incident, calling for accountability and stringent measures to prevent such tragedies in the future.