IAS officer dead: ‘He swam across Bhakra Dam, how can he drown in a swimming pool’

A native of Matindu village in Haryana’s Sonepat, Dahiya was married to Pragya Dixit, an MBBS doctor, over two years ago. Apart from his wife, his family includes his parents and two brothers.

IAS probationer Ashish Dahiya was an ace swimmer who learnt the skill in his childhood. “During his training as a Himachal Pradesh police officer, he had once swum across the Bhakra Dam,” recounted Dahiya’s uncle Kuldeep Singh.

A native of Matindu village in Haryana’s Sonepat, Dahiya was married to Pragya Dixit, an MBBS doctor, over two years ago. Apart from his wife, his family includes his parents and two brothers.

So when his family members received news of his drowning in a swimming pool in Delhi, they could not believe it. They could not understand how an “ace swimmer” drowned in a pool that was hardly 10 feet deep.

“During his police training, he had won a gold medal in swimming. We cannot understand how he could drown,” said his uncle.

Singh said the family has demanded a “satisfactory” autopsy of Dahiya. If not satisfied with the Delhi Police probe, he would approach the Central Bureau of Investigation, he said.

But the police don’t suspect any foul play. “Doctors have told us and Dahiya’s family that he died of drowning as water had entered his respiratory organs. There were no external injuries on his body,” said Ishwar Singh, DCP (South).

The officer said that a three-member board conducted the post-mortem and the entire procedure was videographed.

A native of Matindu village in Haryana’s Sonepat, Dahiya was married to Pragya Dixit, an MBBS doctor, over two years ago. Apart from his wife, his family includes his parents and two brothers.

His father, Narender Dahiya, is a soil conservation officer with the Haryana government. His mother, Moorti Devi, is a government school teacher.

“We received a call around 1.30 am that Ashish was involved in an accident. We immediately left for Delhi,” said his uncle.

“His death is a huge loss to our family as well to the nation. He would have made an excellent officer after training,” said his brother, Surender.

Surender, who was in Delhi on Monday, was to meet Ashish later that night. The two had spoken over phone in the afternoon and fixed another time for meeting due to Ashish’s party plans.

Dahiya’s body was handed over to his family on Tuesday afternoon after which it was taken by road to his native village for cremation.