The circumstances surrounding the death of age 18 Akul Dhawan have left his family, parents, friends, and the wider community grappling for answers.
The heart-wrenching news of another Indian student’s demise in the United States has sent shockwaves through communities both in America and back home in India.
Who is Akul Dhawan as Indian UIUC USA student is found dead, death reason, obituary, biography, age, parents and father
Dhawan’s parents believed that no search was carried out near the Busey-Evans Residence Hall and University police did not follow the protocols and just days after Ish and Ritu Dhawan sent their 18-year-old son, Akul, back to college last month, they received a worrying call.
The Champaign County Coroner’s Office’s findings say, “An autopsy was performed on January 23, 2024, that confirmed the death of Dhawan was due to hypothermia.”
Akul Dhawan, an 18-year-old student enrolled in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois University, met a tragic end on January 20, 2024.
Indian-American Student Denied Entry to Illinois Club Before Freezing to Death
It's been revealed that Akul Dhawan was denied entry to a club "multiple times" last month before the student was found dead on a campus porch in West Urbana last month.
Dhawan went missing for… pic.twitter.com/BPrkK2Ck3U
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) February 23, 2024
The journey of 18 year old Akul Dhawan to the US was meant to be a path of opportunity and growth, but it tragically culminated in untimely death. Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area in California, Akul’s parents, Ish and Ritu Dhawan, had hoped for their son to study closer to home.
However, fate had other plans as Akul pursued his academic aspirations at Illinois University, focusing on robotics within the realm of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
#Urbana, #Illinois: tragic death of 18 yr Akul Dhawan, an Indian-American student at #IllinoisUniversity, Dhawan was found lifeless last month after succumbing to freezing temperatures near a club that had denied him entry during a night out with friends. @PMOIndia @USAmbIndia pic.twitter.com/2YoKX6Mkcz
— R V K Rao_TNIE (@RVKRao2) February 23, 2024
Akul Dhawan’s death cause
The events leading to Akul’s death unfolded on a chilling winter night in Urbana-Champaign. According to reports, Akul had been out with friends, enjoying a night on West Nevada Street. However, tragedy struck when a club reportedly refused him entry, prompting him to leave alone.
As the midnight hours crept in, Akul’s whereabouts became a cause for concern as he failed to return home or respond to attempts to contact him. His friends’ frantic search for him yielded no results until his lifeless body was discovered ten hours later.
The subsequent autopsy report revealed the harrowing truth behind Akul’s demise: hypothermia, compounded by acute alcohol intoxication and prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures, claimed his young life. Weather records indicated that the temperature plummeted to -2.7 degrees Celsius on the fateful night, exacerbating the deadly consequences of his prolonged exposure.
The grief-stricken parents of Akul Dhawan, in their quest for justice and closure, raised questions about the adequacy of the search efforts conducted by the University Police. They expressed profound disappointment, alleging that their son was found nearly 200 meters away from where he was last seen, suggesting a potential lapse in the search procedure.
In an open letter, Ish and Ritu Dhawan lamented the lost opportunity to save their son had he been located promptly after going missing. They described Akul as a bright and promising young man with his entire life ahead of him, amplifying the tragedy of his premature death.
Akul Dhawan’s passing adds to a distressing trend of Indian students facing perilous circumstances while pursuing their education in foreign lands. His story joins a chorus of other recent fatalities, including Jaahnavi Kandula, Vivek Saini, Neel Acharya, and the tragic loss of an Indian-American family in California, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced safety measures and support systems for the Indian diaspora abroad.
As communities mourn the loss of Akul Dhawan and others like him, there arises a collective call for action to prevent such tragedies from recurring.