B Tech student found dead on campus, FIR against college

Ghaziabad: A 20-year-old BTech student was found dead under mysterious circumstances on the campus of ABES College located off NH-24 in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. The body of Harshit Srivastava was found lying near a cricket field in the morning. It is suspected that he was electrocuted after coming in contact with a light pole located near the spot where his body was found.

The college authorities rushed him to District Combined Hospital in Sanjay Nagar where he was declared brought dead. Later an FIR has been registered against college management under Section 304 A of IPC (causing death by negligence) at Vijay Nagar police station. The case has been filed on the basis of a complaint by the boy’s uncle Ashwini Srivastava, who lives in Shahberi area of Greater Noida.

Following the incident, college students locked the gates of the campus and sat in protest in front of it. They also blocked NH-24 for some time demanding compensation to the family of Harshit and a fair inquiry into the case. However, the protests were called off after the intervention of officials including ADM (City) Preeti Jaiswal and SP (City) Salmantaj Patil.

Harshit was a second year electronics student and used to stay in the college hostel. According to college administration, a group of boys found Harshit’s body lying on the steps of a cement gallery adjoining the cricket ground around 6:30 am. The boys informed the security guards after which he was rushed to the hospital in a college ambulance.

Though a number of CCTV cameras have been installed on the campus, it is not known yet whether the area in which the body was found was covered by any of them.
“An inquiry is on. At this stage, we cannot make any speculation about the cause of Harshit’s death,” said Surendra Kumar, director of the college.

The college authorities, however, confirmed that the light pole belonged to them and not to the electricity department.

The police were informed through a memo to the local police station by the government hospital where Harshit’s body was brought. The police said a forensic team has found traces of Harshit’s skin sticking to the metal pole near which his body was discovered.

“It seems Harshit was electrocuted from the pole near which his body was found. Burn injuries have been found on one of his arms. It’s probable that he accidentally came in contact with the pole while talking to someone over his mobile phone. The autopsy report will determine the exact cause of death. Any further course of action will be taken based on the report,” said SP (City) Salmantaj Patil.

Later Harshit’s body was taken to his hometown Allahabad. His family members told TOI that Harshit had completed his schooling from Boys’ High School & College of Allahabad. He had represented UP in state-level basketball championships.

Harshit’s father Vijay Kumar Srivastava (51), a lawyer practicing at Allahabad High Court told TOI that he was informed about the incident by his brother-in-law, Arvind Kumar, a retired army man living in Greater Noida. Kumar was the local guardian of Harshit.

“College authorities did not care to inform me about the incident. Kumar told me Harshit has been taken to a hospital after sustaining an electric shock. It was much later that I learnt Harshit was already dead at the time I was informed. I had spoken to Harshit at around 10 pm on Tuesday. He seemed absolutely normal during the chat,” Srivastava told TOI.

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