After going missing for several hours, Akul Dhawan, an 18-year-old Indian-American student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the US, passed away last month.
In the second half of January, Illinois and a large portion of the Midwest saw bitterly cold and freezing temperatures, with wind chills of -20 to -30 degrees.
This Thursday, the Illinois Champaign County Coroner’s Office reported that the student, who was Indian-American, passed away from hypothermia as a result of “prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures and acute alcohol intoxication, which significantly contributed to his death.”
The student’s body was discovered on the back porch of a building close to the university campus in west Urbana, Illinois, on January 20, marking the day of his death. His body was discovered with signs of hypothermia, but the campus police were still looking into the precise cause of death.
‘Denied Entry In Club’
On January 20, Akul went out for drinks with several friends. He made the decision to go to the Canopy Club, a location near the school that they had previously visited, with his pals at about 11:30 p.m.
He was turned away from the club by the staff. Investigators said that he attempted to enter the club “multiple times” but was consistently turned away by personnel. He also declined two rideshare requests that were made on his behalf, according to Kansas City.
In the second half of January, Illinois and a large portion of the Midwest saw bitterly cold and freezing temperatures, with wind chills of -20 to -30 degrees.
He received several unanswered calls, so a friend called the university police to request a search of him. Police said that while driving “at a walking pace” close to the “likely path” Dhawan would have taken back to school, an officer searched for him but was unable to locate him.
An university employee reported “a man on the back porch of a building” to police and emergency medical services the following morning. According to police, he was “dead at the time he was found”.
Based on location-tracking information from their son’s phone, Akul’s parents, Ish and Ritu Dhawan, stated their son was discovered within 400 feet from the place where he was reported missing.
Dhawan, who turned eighteen in September of last year, defied his parents’ wishes for him to stay closer to home by enrolling in the University of Illinois’ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to study robotics, according to The News-Gazette.
The Jaahnavi Kandula
Following a year of legal disputes, court hearings, and demands for responsibility, the policeman who was charged with running his car over Jaajnavi Kandula will be released from custody. On January 23, of last year, in the US state of Washington, a speeding police car struck and killed a 23-year-old Indian student.
A US prosecutor stated that there was not “sufficient evidence” to bring criminal charges against Seattle police officer Kevin Dave, who struck Ms. Kandula, an Andhra Pradeshi master’s student studying in Seattle, while driving at 120 mph. Dave acknowledged the impact his police car had on communities both locally and “across the world.”
Officer Daniel Auderer, who was not in the crash but was present at the scene, laughed about it on bodycam footage released by Seattle Police. He then dismissed the necessity for a criminal investigation and made hurtful remarks about Ms. Kandula’s age and value.
