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Chandigarh: PU student among 2 arrested for outsider’s death in boys’ hostel
Police have registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 105 of the BNS against the two accused at the Sector 11 police station in Chandigarh
The Chandigarh Police on Wednesday arrested two youths, including a Panjab University (PU) student, for the death of an outsider in the boys’ hostel number 7 of the university on Monday night following drug overdose. Those who have been arrested are Aryan Parbhat, 21, a resident of Banjar village of Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh, and Parikshit Kaushal, 24, a resident of Madhawani village in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh.
The videos recovered from the mobile phone of the accused revealed that the victim fell unconscious at 3 am but it was only after six hours, around 9 am, that he was taken to the hospital by the two.
Police have registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 105 of the BNS at Police Station Sector-11 against the two accused.
Aryan is a student at the University Institute of Hotel and Tourism Management (UIHTM), PU, while Parikshit is an ex-student of the university. The victim, also a resident of Kullu, had been staying in hostel number 7 as a guest of his friend, Aryan. Neither the deceased nor the accused Parikshit, both of whom were outsiders staying at Aryan’s room for the night, featured in any entry logbook of the hostel and had managed to sneak into the campus.
What had happened
The police control room received a call at 10 am from GMSH, Sector 16, that the victim was brought here from the boys’ hostel in PU and was declared dead on arrival.
The investigating officer met Aryan and Parikshit who were with the deceased and had brought him to the hospital. On inquiry, Aryan said the deceased had come to meet them at 9 pm on November 18 and all of them consumed drugs.
After taking drugs, all three of them dozed off. It was stated to the police that when he and Parikshit woke up, the victim was found unconscious. He was rushed to the Sector 16 hospital where doctors declared him dead. They stated that the victim was already under the influence of drugs when he came to their room.
Following the death, a police team reached the boys’ hostel and inspected the room in which they found vomit all over. Police also recovered two used syringes following which a team of CFSL was also called.
Videos reveal the actual story
The police questioned Parikshit and inspected his mobile phone and found four videos in his mobile gallery. The videos were made at 3.17 am, 3.46 am, 4.37 am and 7.58 am on November 19. It was found in the videos that the victim had died at 3 am but both Aryan and Parikshit were heavily under the influence of drugs.
While Parikshit was making the video, Aryan was in an intoxicated state and smoking.
In another video, Aryan is seen trying to close the victim’s nose with a blanket and Parikshit is telling him to “use force and suffocate him so that he can’t breathe anymore.”
A senior police officer said that from the video it is clear that the victim was lying unconscious since 3 am but Aryan and Parikshit were high on drugs. “Instead of rushing the victim to hospital, the two wasted crucial time during which they were forcing smoke in his mouth and sometimes trying to stop his breath with a blanket,” said a senior officer.
The accused were produced in a court that remanded them to one day in police custody.
What PU says
The incident has once again highlighted the lack of security and checks on the PU campus and easy flow of drugs and booze.
Even after a drunken man had broken into a girl hostel in April 2023, security lapses were highlighted but no major change in hostel rules was enforced.
Panjab University (PU) Dean Students Welfare Professor Amit Chauhan said, “We were told by the police that a case has been registered, and the accused are already in their custody. While we will cooperate with the police, a meeting with all boys’ hostel wardens was held on Tuesday. We will soon hold another meeting with all the hostel wardens to discuss the problem and what can be done about it.”
Hostel officials said that Aryan was earlier residing in the same hostel but had shifted from there a while ago. He used to frequently come to the hostel to meet other hotel management students. Hostel officials, however, had no information about Parikshit.
