The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a supplementary closure report before the Rouse Avenue Court in connection with the deaths of three UPSC aspirants who drowned after the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar was flooded in 2024.

The report, submitted before Special Judge Dinesh Bhatt, clears two senior Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials of criminal negligence while holding three other civic officials responsible for serious lapses in the discharge of their duties.

According to the CBI, the investigation found no material to establish criminal negligence against the then Deputy Commissioner of the Karol Bagh Zone, Kumar Abhishek, and the then Superintending Engineer, Ajay Nagpal.

Kumar Abhishek, a 2016-batch IAS officer, was the MCD Deputy Commissioner and in-charge of Old Rajender Nagar. The coaching centre area was under his jurisdiction.

The agency said both officers were unaware that the basement of the coaching institute was allegedly being used as a library in violation of the approved norms, as their subordinate officials neither reported the unauthorised use nor brought it to their notice.

The investigation further found that the basement had been sanctioned only for parking and storage purposes, and not for conducting coaching-related activities.

The CBI, however, held Junior Engineer (Building) Arnav Kumar Dutta, Assistant Engineer Rajeev Kumar Jain and Executive Engineer Kumar Mahendru responsible for failing to act despite allegedly knowing that the basement was being used illegally. The report states that the officials failed to take the necessary steps to address the violations, allowing the unauthorised use to continue.

Despite recording findings of negligence against the three officials, the agency has not filed a chargesheet against them in the supplementary closure report, citing the absence of the mandatory government sanction required for prosecution.

The CBI informed the court that departmental proceedings have already been initiated against the three officials.