Union  Home Minister Amit Shah’s comment that Kerala was sent a red alert about heavy rains and landslide, has been negated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who indicated that it was a case of too little too late. Not only was the rain warning way off mark, the red alerts came hours after the Wayanad tragedy, he told reporters this evening.

Pointing to the continuing rescue work, Mr Vijayan also said this was “not the time for blame game”.

Search operation in the landslide-hit zone of Wayanad is in progress amid torrential downpour. Around 200 people continue to be missing and 205 are confirmed dead.

“I do not wish to engage in a blame game now as the people in Wayanad are going through untold misery on account of the massive landslide. But the fact of the matter is that there were predictions that came out and they never mentioned a red alert in the affected area. In fact, the red alert came on Tuesday at 6 am, when the tragedy occurred several hours before,” Mr Vijayan was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.

“The IMD had predicted rains to the tune of 115 mm to 204 mm in the affected area. But in the first 24 hours, there was 200 mm and in the next 24 hours, 372 mm rain came down, making it a staggering 572 mm in 48 hours — much more than predicted. So with these being the facts, I wish to state, that this is not the time for wrangling,” Mr Vijayan added.

The Chief Minister also said that there was no prediction of landslides from the Geological Survey of India and when this came, the tragedy had already taken place.

“Then there was an alert from the Central Water Commission and it said that from July 23 to 29, not for one single day… of the two rivers which got swollen, there was no mention at all. What was said in the Parliament is not true,” he said. He even pointed out that there was a mention that the NDRF (National Desaster Response Force) was sent early, “but the fact is we asked for it”.

Earlier today, Mr Shah had told parliament that the Kerala government was given warning about potential landslides on July 23 — a week before the Wayanad tragedy.

“India is among four countries that can provide warning on natural disasters at least seven days in advance,” he had said, underscoring that the Centre had also sent nine NDRF teams. “The Kerala government did not evacuate people in time,” he had told Rajya Sabha.

“What is the Delhi Police doing? Have they lost it?” wondered the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, while castigating the police for a “strange” probe by arresting an SUV driver for his alleged role in the drowning of three civil services aspirants at a coaching centre here.

The strong words of the high court, however, did not come to the rescue of jailed SUV driver whose bail plea was dismissed by a magisterial court later in the day.

Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar rejected the bail plea of five accused, including SUV driver Manuj Kathuria, who was termed a “masti-khor” (fun lover) by the Delhi Police in their vehement opposition to his bail plea.

In the high court, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said a “strange probe” was going on with the Delhi Police taking action against a man who drove a car outside the coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar here but not acting against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials.

“What is the Delhi Police doing? Have they lost it? What are its officials who are monitoring the probe doing? This is a cover-up or what?” the court said.

The bench said the police have arrested a bystander or some person who was driving the car over there. It asked whether some official (of MCD) has been held accountable for the incident till now.

“We are telling you, once the responsibility is fixed on officials, no such incident will ever happen in future,” the bench said.

The high court was hearing a plea by an organisation, Kutumb, seeking the constitution of a high-level committee to investigate the deaths of the three civil service aspirants on the evening of July 27.

During the hearing, the bench allowed an oral prayer of the petitioner’s advocate Rudra Vikram Singh to implead Delhi Police as a party to the petition.

“Where is the police? Who is investigating this matter? They are trying to get hold of any passerby or driver and saying this happened because you drove a car.

“Has any official been caught or interrogated? Have they interrogated the official who has not de-silted this drain? Was the drain de-silted properly and in time?” the court asked and said “some sort of very strange investigation is going on”.

The court hinted at asking a central agency to probe the incident and directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner, deputy commissioner of police concerned and the investigating officer (IO) of the case to appear before it on Friday.

It said this was strange that no MCD official has been hauled up till now.

“We don’t know whether the IO has seen the de-silting plan or the approved building construction plan. We have no idea whether he has done that or whether he has investigated the role of MCD officials,” the bench said.

The counsel for the Delhi government said he would take instructions from IO on the status of investigation and on the queries raised by the court and apprise it on Friday.

Mr Kathuria has been accused of driving his Force Gurkha car through the street that was flooded by rainwater, causing the water to swell and breach the gates of the three-storey building, where Rau’s IAS Study Circle was being run, and inundate the basement.

The police have registered an FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 105 (culpable homicide), 106(1) (death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 115(2) (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings). 

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Apart from Delhi, lightening and thunder followed by light rains was reported in other parts of the NCR as well