Basement deaths: "Negligence is of person operating library in basement", counsel of accused SUV driver

In a recent development associated with Civil Service aspirants' deaths in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar, while speaking to ANI, counsel Rakesh Malhotra has spoken about negligence.

Today, Tuesday, July 30, a court in New Delhi, reserved its order on the bail plea of an SUV driver who was arrested in connection with the flooding of a coaching centre's basement in the Old Rajender Nagar area, which further led to the death of three Civil Services aspirants. Rakesh Malhotra is the counsel of the SUV driver.

In a video posted by ANI on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Malhotra is seen saying, "The negligence is firstly of the person operating a library in that basement. Our second argument was that if there was waterlogging, then the civic authorities were responsible for that."

Furthermore, Malhotra went on to say, "If a person is driving through an area in his vehicle and an unfortunate incident happens in any building, then that person is not liable for that..."

Besides that, a few protesting students asked the Delhi Government to increase the compensation amount to be given to the next of kin of the deceased.

They want the compensation to be in the range of Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore each for the families of the three UPSC aspirants who died in the July 27 incident, as against the Rs 10 lakh promised by the Delhi Government.

As per IANS, UPSC aspirant Daksh Sharma said, "We are on a silent protest. We don't have any strategy to fight with anyone. We want more compensation for the deceased. Rs 10 lakh is not the value of a life. The three people who died, and their families should receive Rs 1 crore at least."