IIT-Delhi student killed, friend hurt in Ring Road hit-and-run

The victim was identified as 30-year-old Ashraf Nawaz Khan, who succumbed to severe head injuries at the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

A research scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi was killed and his friend grievously injured when they were run over by a speeding car while crossing the road outside the campus late on Tuesday, police said.

The spot where the accident took place near IIT gate in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The victims were identified as 30-year-old Ashraf Nawaz Khan, who succumbed to severe head injuries at the AIIMS Trauma Centre shortly after the incident, and Ankur Shukla, who is in a critical condition with a fractured leg.

Khan, from Bihar, was the sole breadwinner of his family. Both were pursuing their PhD from IIT Delhi.

Police said that the control room received a call at 11:15pm regarding the accident near the IIT’s gate number 1. Deputy commissioner of police (south west), Manoj C, said the two were returning from dinner at the SDA market across the road when they were hit by the car, a white sedan that was later found with heavy damage.

“The car was coming from the Nehru Place direction. It was found abandoned at a distance in an accidental condition,” the DCP said, adding that the driver was arrested.

Pedestrians usually have the option of taking a subway to cross the busy outer ring road outside the IIT campus, but this was shut when the two were returning at night.

A senior police officer said they believed that two victims therefore went over the grill divider, though the duo’s friends insisted they take a U-turn under the flyover a short distance away.

“There was no traffic signal so after jumping the grill, they were waiting for a free passage and when they thought no car was coming, they started crossing the road and were hit midway,” the officer said, asking not to be named.

Manoj identified the accused as Avihant Sherawat, 31. “He resides in Mahipalpur and comes from a humble family,” the officer said, adding that teams are verifying if he was drunk at the time of the incident and whether he owned the car.

At the mortuary of AIIMS Trauma Centre, Khan’s family and friends gathered on Wednesday morning while waiting to take the body back to Bihar’s Siwan, his hometown.

Pushpendra Tomar, a senior scientist at IIT and a friend of Khan’s, said the deceased lived in the Satpura hostel in IIT and had come to Delhi in 2015 to pursue his Masters in Technology from the institute.

He commenced his PhD in 2017 and was due to finish in a few weeks. Shukla, Tomar said, was his junior and the two had known each other for two years.

“Around 8:30pm, he and Ankur left for dinner and used the subway to go to SDA market right opposite. We all always use the subway. But while coming back, the subway was closed as it usually shuts around 10pm, so they crossed the road and when they reached near the college gate, a speeding car hit them both. Ashraf’s head hit the road and Ankur got a severe leg injury,” Tomar said.

Khan was the only earning member of the family since losing his father to a brain haemorrhage two years ago, said his cousin Wasif Khan Zafir, who lives in Okhla. “He used to get an amount monthly while pursuing his PhD. He would keep some money for himself and send the rest home for his parents,” he said.

Zafir said Khan was waiting to join Boston University in Massachusetts for his post doctorate studies, and was due to immediately leave for London, Saudi Arabia and Dubai for his work.

Tomar described Khan, who worked in the field of single polymer thermoplastic composites, as a genius. “He had four patents to his name and a few published research papers as well. He was going to apply for UPSC (civil services selection procedure) and if he would have cleared it, he planned to resign from Boston and come back to India,” he added.

IIT, in a statement, said two students in the Textile and Fibre Engineering Department met with a road accident outside the campus. “The institute is providing all necessary support to the families of both students,” the statement read.