BIMTECH hostel room shooting: Second student succumbs to injury; college to offer counselling

Devansh’s classmate Deepak Kumar (22) was found dead in the same room on Tuesday, and the police said he too had sustained gunshot wounds.

“The bullet was lodged in his (Devansh’s) brain. Due to the nature of the injury, a surgery could not be performed,” said Viresh Bhadauria, Chief Medical Officer, Kailash Hospital.

Deepak, a first-year MBA student of the same college, hailed from Andhra Pradesh.

The police said that though a gun was recovered from the room, it was not clear who shot whom. They also said that both had sustained the bullet injury on the right side of the head.

Officers said after a post-mortem examination on Tuesday night, Deepak’s family took his body to Andhra Pradesh. According to one of his relatives, the entire family is in shock.

Devansh’s family also left for Agra with his body to perform his last rites after the autopsy on Wednesday afternoon.

An investigating officer on Wednesday, meanwhile, said that no FIR was filed in the case, but they are probing the matter. “We have not been able to unlock both of their phones yet, but once we do, we will be able to reach some conclusion,” the officer said.

“There was no camera installed inside the hostel. Devansh entered the (hostel) campus around 9.26 am. He and Deepak were in different rooms on different floors. Prima facie, it appears that Devansh later headed to Deepak’s room as we found his bag there,” the officer said.

Devansh was the son of a retired officer of the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Task Force.

In a statement Wednesday, BIMTECH said it was cooperating with the police in the probe.

“We are deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident involving the alleged use of a firearm that took place in a hostel. The matter is currently under investigation by the police authorities, and the institution is extending its full cooperation to ensure that the truth comes out and justice is delivered,” read the statement.

“We are also in constant touch with the families of the two affected students and are providing them with every possible support in this difficult time. At the same time, the well-being of our student community remains our priority. In light of the traumatic nature of this incident, we are arranging counselling sessions to help students cope and to reassure them of a safe and supportive environment,” it added.

The incident came to light after the security guard heard someone “groan” in one of the hostel rooms and informed the hostel warden. The warden tried to open the main door, but failed, said police.

Sudheer Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police, Greater Noida, on Tuesday said that the warden then went to the rear side of the hostel, climbed to the balcony of the room, broke the glass of a window and opened the door. The warden spotted the students lying on the ground, “bleeding profusely”, the police said.

The police on Tuesday also said that Chauhan had brought his father’s licensed personal gun to the college. When asked why the college security officials could not catch him, the officer said the college does not have a facility for scanning of luggage.

“Since only the two of them were present in the room, we don’t know what happened or who shot at whom. We are investigating the matter,” ACP Kumar said.

Some batchmates of Devansh and Deepak told The Indian Express that both were good friends and would hang out together. “Some of us saw them together that morning as well. Our class starts at 9.45 am, so most of us then left for college,” one said.

The hostel where the incident occurred is nearly two kilometers away from the main campus regulated by BIMTECH.