NEW DELHI: Manuj Kathuria, a businessman, has been arrested in connection with the drowning of three IAS aspirants at a flooded coaching center in Old Rajinder Nagar.
According to police, Kathuria’s SUV displaced water along a flooded street, causing the center’s basement gate to break and flood the area. His wife, Shima, contends that her husband is a victim rather than an accused and believes the judicial system will make the right decision.
“My husband has not done anything wrong. I would like to refer to my husband as a victim and not an accused,” Shima said.
Shima emphasized that her husband had no knowledge about the gate breaking due to his car. She suggested that the gate must have weakened previously due to frequent waterlogging, and any water displacement caused by her husband’s vehicle was incidental.
“A gate cannot break like that. It must have weakened due to frequent waterlogging in the area,” she stated.
“Displaced water could have been hitting the gates earlier also. The water displaced by my husband’s car must have been the final straw, causing it to break,” she added.
Despite the situation, Shima and her family place their trust in the judicial system and are remaining positive.
“We are very positive. We have full faith in the judicial system and I am sure that the court will take the right decision,” she remarked.
A city court has reserved its verdict on Kathuria’s bail plea, which was filed on Tuesday.
Shima recounted that the police visited their home around 5:30 pm on Sunday, informing them they needed to question Manuj concerning the deaths at the coaching center.
“Police said there was no criminal liability and they were taking him for questioning since his vehicle was seen in a viral video captured around that time (when the water gushed into the coaching center),” she explained.
“Around 30 minutes later, my father-in-law received a call from him (Manuj) saying he had been arrested,” she continued.
The family learned about the tragic incident involving the deaths of the three IAS aspirants on Sunday morning and had difficulties obtaining information about the charges against Kathuria.
“We were not even given a copy of the FIR till the bail hearing. Our legal counsel made several requests,” Shima claimed.
She also mentioned that her husband was accused of rash driving by the police. However, she argued that the video evidence shows he was driving cautiously given the brake lights were on.
“He was driving in first gear on the waterlogged road. The car could not be driven at a speed of 5 km/hour in that situation, but it was not speeding either. It must have been somewhere around 15 km/hr or 20 km/hr. He was applying brakes constantly and not speeding his SUV,” she asserted.
“The car would have been stuck had he stopped. He did not know which buildings he crossed. He was making sure that he was driving straight and not hitting anyone. We had never been to those institutes nor knew how they are operating,” she said.
Shima highlighted that her husband’s car likely passed several buildings on the flooded street and questioned why only one coaching center gate was affected.
The incident occurred when Kathuria was on his way to drop two accountants at the Karol Bagh metro station in the rain.
“We had taken our dog for a walk to the nearby Ridge area. We were almost home when it started raining. My father-in-law called and asked my husband to drop our two accountants at the metro station. When we returned, I got down and my husband left to drop them,” she recounted.
Manuj Kathuria is one of seven people arrested in connection with the incident. The family is hopeful for a favorable outcome in court.
Source Agencies
