- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Nevin Delvin’s mother Lanclet Delvin, a professor in Kochi, had to be hospitalised after she learned about her son’s death
By: Shajil Kumar
REMEMBERING Nevin Delvin as a bright student, his uncle sought answers on the Delhi coaching centre flooding incident last week that killed his nephew and two other civil services aspirants.
Delvin (28) is survived by his parents and younger sister. His mother Lanclet Delvin, a professor in Kochi, had to be hospitalised after she learned about her son’s passing.
His father Delvin Suresh retired as an assistant commissioner of police and his younger sister is a graduate student.
“Everyone had huge expectations from him. We learnt about the incident on Sunday morning and there has been an atmosphere of grief at home since then. His mother has not been able to process the loss and is in hospital,” Delvin’s uncle Linu Raj told PTI.
Three Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants died due to flooding of the Rau’s IAS Study Circle building basement in the central Delhi coaching hub of Old Rajinder Nagar following heavy rain on July 27.
Delvin came to Delhi four years ago to pursue his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and enrolled in Rau’s IAS Study Circle in May to pursue his dream of becoming a civil servant.
“He was extremely calm, kind and a bright student,” his uncle said outside the RML Hospital mortuary.
Delvin’s post-mortem was conducted on Monday and his body was handed over to his family. His uncle will take the body to his village in Thiruvananthapuram.
As he waited for the handover, Raj spoke to police officers.
He could be heard asking them about the reasons behind the tragedy, the progress of the probe and the shortcomings in the building plan.
The investigators assured him that they were probing into the incident and urged him not to worry.
Raj said his only demand was action against coaching institutes so that similar incidents did not recur.
“What will we do with compensation? Nevin (Delvin) won’t return. We just want action to be taken so that young lives are not lost in the future,” he said.
Delvin’s friends from JNU were also present to console his family members.
One of them, Annu, said, “I have lost a close friend. He was studious and ambitious.”
“He would have achieved something really big in life,” he said.
Five in judicial custody
Five accused arrested on Monday in connection with this incident have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a court.
The five accused – Tejinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh and Sarabjeet Singh, the four co-owners of the coaching centre at Rajinder Nagar, and the driver of a car, Manuj Kathuria – were produced in the court.
Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar sent them to judicial custody till August 12.
Their bail pleas will be heard on Tuesday.
Kathuria, the driver of a sports utility vehicle (SUV) that drove through the street that was flooded by rainwater, causing the water to swell and breach the gates of the three-storey building and inundate the basement, was among the five accused produced in the court.
His counsel told the court that his client had no intention or knowledge of causing death and sought his immediate release on bail.
Probe panel formed
The Union Home Ministry has constituted a high-level committee, headed by an Additional Secretary, to probe the tragedy.
The committee will inquire into the reasons, fix responsibility, suggest measures and recommend policy changes, a home ministry spokesperson said.
Apart from the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the committee will have Principal Secretary (Home) of Delhi government, Special CP of Delhi Police and Fire Advisor as members and a Joint Secretary in the home ministry as the Convener.
The committee will submit its report in 30 days, the spokesperson said.
More students will die: Protesters
“We must take concrete steps now to prevent a similar incident from happening again,” said Rahul Sharma, a civil service aspirant, staging a sit-in at Old Rajinder Nagar to demand justice for the three students who drowned during the coaching centre tragedy.
Sharma, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, is among the hundreds of aspirants protesting near Rau’s IAS Study Circle where horror unfolded on Saturday night when students got trapped in the basement illegally used as a library as floodwaters rose outside.
The protesters blamed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for negligence.
“More students will die if we neglect this incident. We won’t get justice for our fellow students. If we don’t fight for our right now, how will we serve the nation in the future? This is sheer negligence on the part of the authorities,” Sharma said.
Another protesting student, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “The MCD is the biggest culprit. Whenever it rains, the streets are waterlogged and you risk falling into an open manhole or getting an electric shock and dying. Anything can happen.” (PTI)
