On July 27, as water filled the basement of Rao IAS Study Circle coaching institute in Delhi’s Old Rajendra Nagar, about 35 students in its “illegal” library were caught off guard. Some of them waded back into the dirty water to rescue their trapped peers until the NDRF arrived over an hour later. Three students lost their lives – Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Nevin Dalvin from Kerala. 

The authorities are yet to determine the specific cause of the waterlogging. But the students are blaming the negligence of the institute and the administration, demanding strict action and safety audits of coaching institutes, PGs, and libraries in Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar, also known as the hub for UPSC coaching. The Delhi police have made a series of arrests, sending the coaching institute’s owner and coordinator behind bars. 

But what transpired in the institute’s basement? Newslaundry spoke to four students – survivors and eyewitnesses of the incident – to piece it together. All four students from Tamil Nadu – Kingsley Kanan (21), Vijay Kumar* (22), Deendayalan* (25) and Hari* (25) – had enrolled at the institute about a year ago and were in the basement library around the time the waterlogging began.    

First five minutes: ‘Water rose up to waist within seconds’    

Around 6:50 pm, water from the road had begun filling up the basement. There was waterlogging in the parking lot on the ground floor too. But it was not alarming. “It is very common for the basement to be filled with ankle-deep water during the rainy season. This has happened many times,” Kanan told Newslaundry. 

About 10 minutes before the closing of the library at 7 pm, Kanan had packed his bags and walked upstairs to the parking lot to call his family, wait for the rain to stop, and subsequently, head to the Karol Bagh metro station. 

He said, “I thought the rain would stop and the water would drain out, and then I would leave for the metro station. But about two minutes later, a black SUV passed the building, and more water rushed towards the coaching centre with double the force and broke the iron gate of the building. Then the water started entering the basement very fast.”

The librarian soon began walking up to students, asking them to vacate the library as the basement was flooding. At around 6:51 pm, he asked Vijay Kumar, who was sitting near the front door, to quickly pack his stuff and vacate the library.

The library in the basement, about 60 feet in length and 30 feet in width, had two doors – one on the front-side and the other at the rear of the building. The front door was frequently used to enter and exit the library, said the students.  

Kumar said flooding was “a very normal thing for us. Because whenever it rains, the basement gets flooded up to the ankle, so we were a little less alert. We did not think such a big accident would happen.”

He said the students were packing their belongings when “suddenly the water-level started rising rapidly. Within a few seconds, the water reached up to the waist. At that time, about 35 children were present in the library”.

Then panic struck the students. “As the water inflow increased, there was chaos. Everyone tried to get out through the front door,” said Kumar, adding that as the students rushed, a large toughened glass sheet kept near the door fell, and he too got injured.  

Along with Kumar, about 20-25 other students also came out through the front door. “I somehow got out but about 11 students remained stuck behind me.” Deendayalan and Hari, at the rear portion of the library, were among those 11 students. 

Deendayalan told Newslaundry, “The library is divided into compartments, when all this was happening near the front door, those at the back did not know anything. I could only hear the voice of the librarian, ‘Everyone quickly vacate the library, water is filling up.’”

The student said even before he could pack his belongings, “the water-level reached up to his waist and he quickly ran towards the front door”. And as he tried to open the door against the force of the water, the 4-feet wide glass door broke.

Deendayalan then saw some students slipping into the water, down the stairs, towards the library door. “Some sharp parts of the broken glass door were jutting out. I began breaking them so others do not get injured. But before I could do it, the water level reached up to the neck.”

He said that “it was difficult to get out from the front door”, so they rushed to the door at the back-side, referred to as the back door. “But by then the water had risen considerably and the furniture had started floating. Some of us reached the back door with great difficulty.”

The next 20 minutes: ‘We wanted to rescue but had no means’

At around 6:55, Kannan saw his friends, Deendayal and Hari, struggling to climb the stairs that reached the back gate. He told Newslaundry, “Deendayal was pleading for help and kept saying that there were more people trapped downstairs and we had to get them out at any cost.”

Deendayal said that by the time he came out, “the entire basement was submerged in water. Since sewage water had also mixed with the rainwater, the water was stinking and made us feel suffocated. There was a burning sensation in our eyes. By then, the faculty, management and other staff present in the coaching centre also started trying to get the students out.” 

He told Newslaundry that there was “no rope, ladder or any other means of rescue in the basement, and Kannan started using the water hose as a rope”.

Deendayal and Hari, who knew swimming, went back to the basement with the hose to search and rescue the trapped students. The former said, “The electricity of the building had already been cut off due to the fear of a short circuit. And it was evening and the water was dirty, so there was little visibility. The furniture of the library was also floating. It was very difficult to find the trapped people.” 

Hari told Newslaundry, “We tried much more than our capacity. But human efforts also have a limit. Even if we wanted, we were not able to help the other trapped people because we had no means except our courage.”

Rescue efforts delayed, teams ‘did not have required equipment’

By 7 pm, two or three police personnel from the local Karol Bagh Police Station arrived at the coaching institute, “someone from the management” had informed the police, Hari told Newslaundry. “We were trying to rescue the trapped students. One of the police persons showed great urgency and went inside the water with us, without any equipment. He helped rescue several trapped students. But soon the situation was beyond human control.”

Half an hour later, the Delhi Fire Service team arrived. “But they too were unable to help in evacuating the students as they did not have the necessary equipment to deal with the situation.”

The fire service team, which did not include any divers, did not venture into the waterlogged area “but immediately called for a pump and started to remove water from the basement”. Kannan told Newslaundry, “The fire service arrived around 7:30 pm but they could not help us because divers were needed to deal with such a situation, which the fire service did not have.”

The NDRF team arrived on the spot about 40 minutes after the fire service team began its rescue efforts. The NDRF divers went inside the area and soon found the three trapped students who had reportedly already died. The NDRF operations continued till around 12 am.   

Newslaundry has sent queries in connection with the rescue efforts to the Delhi Fire Service and the NDRF. This report will be updated on receiving their response.

Students ‘angry’ with media coverage

Several students who spoke to Newslaundry criticised the media for “insensitive” and “irresponsible” coverage. They particularly cited reports which claimed that the library’s “biometric lock system” had malfunctioned due to a short circuit and resulted in the tragedy.  

The students of the coaching institute said these claims were “completely wrong”, and the library had “no biometric lock of any kind”.  

Kumar said that the library did not have biometric locks but a simple glass door. “Students got stuck in the basement because it was a flash flood-like situation.”

Hari said the institute’s students and faculty tried rescuing those trapped in the basement but several media reports stated otherwise. “It is being repeatedly said in the media that the faculty and the management present at the coaching centre did not help those stuck in the basement. Is it possible for a person to see someone die and not try to help? Just think how insensitive it [the report] is? "

He said “around 15 students and staff members” were trying to rescue the trapped students. “In fact, our centre’s coordinator Desh Pal sir lay at the gate to stop the flow of water. But the water soon began flowing over his body. Our librarian, who is around 60-years-old, kept searching for people trapped inside the water till the end. He was among the last ones to come out.”

The student said media reports claiming that the faculty and management present at the spot were not helping is “a betrayal of humanity” and while those “responsible for ignoring rules should be punished, there should not be such coverage in the media that questions are raised on humanity”.

The four students stayed at the coaching centre and helped with the rescue efforts until they concluded late at night. The following day, Hari and Deenadayalan fell sick and vomited several times, purportedly due to prolonged exposure to dirty water. The students said that if the rescue operation had begun earlier, no lives would have been lost.

* The names of the students have been changed to protect their identity.

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