Pune: The families of the eight 16-year-old students of an Alandi coaching institute, who drowned at Diveagar beach on Oct 1, have demanded that police charge the institute’s management with culpable homicide.However, assistant inspector Santosh Awati of Raigad district’s Dighi Sagri police said they have not invoked these charges as they could not establish the institute’s direct responsibility for the alleged offence under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).Yuvraj Vahile, father of Rajveer, who drowned at the beach, criticised this decision. “The police act swiftly in politically sensitive cases, arresting accused even at midnight. But in our case, nothing has happened so far,” Vahile, who registered an FIR with the Raigad police on Oct 18, told TOI.He further alleged that the institute misled parents about the destination of the trip and failed to ensure adequate safety arrangements.He claimed the institute told the parents that the students would be taken to Shrivardhan beach and later changed the destination to Diveagar without their consent. He also alleged that the institute assured parents that lifeguards would be available at the beach, but no one was present at the site when the students began to drown.“The spot was secluded, and there was nobody nearby to help. This amounts to gross negligence on the part of the teachers and the coaching institute,” said Vahile, who lodged an FIR with the Raigad police on Oct 18.The police have booked five people, including teachers and other staff of the coaching institute, under BNS Section 106 (causing death by a rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide). The accused have been served notices, police said. “We have recorded the statements of the suspects and an investigation is under way,” Awati told TOI.
