At Delhi PG, play-fighting takes a tragic turn as two college students fall to death

The deceased have been identified as Ishaan, a resident of Bharatpur, Rajasthan, and Harsh, a resident of Delhi's Palam Colony, the official said.

Twelve-year-old Ashfaq Ahmed, son of Mohammad Rafiq, passed away after being hospitalised at the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu for six days, officials said.

On Saturday, first-year college students Ishan Sharma and Harsh Verma returned to their paying guest accommodation (PG) in Rohini. Their semester holidays ended. The next night, the two were play-fighting in their room, on a bed pushed against the window. In a bizarre turn of events, one of the boys landed against the window which was thrown open on impact. In a panic, he clutched onto his friend for support — both boys fell to their death from the fourth floor, police said.

On Monday, police ruled out foul play and declared it an accidental fall. “Eyewitnesses were examined who said the two, aged 18, were friends. They were having a friendly scuffle, eventually leading to their fall from the window. Post-mortem was conducted and nothing suspicious was found,” said Amit Goel, DCP Rohini.
Shubham Singh Bhadoriya, a cook who worked at the PG, was sleeping on the ground floor when he was awoken by a loud thud. “I saw the boys lying on the ground… there was a lot of shouting from the fourth floor,” he said.

Bhadoriya rushed to the boys’ aid and lifted them into a car before rushing to a private clinic nearby. “Doctors at the clinic said their case was beyond their help and to take them to Babasaheb Hospital… the boys were still breathing when the ambulance brought them to Babasaheb. They died a few minutes later,” he said.

Recalling what one of the three boys in the room had told him in the aftermath of the incident, Bhadoriya said, “The bed on which they were scuffling had been pushed against the wall to make more space… It was right under the window.”

“Suddenly, one of them pushed the other onto the window, which was flung open. As one boy fell, he grabbed onto the other for support and pulled him down as well,” he said.

Ishan was a first-year BBA student at Bhagwan Parshuram Institute of Technology (BPIT), while Harsh was a B.Tech student at Delhi Technological University.

At Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital, Harsh’s father Ajay Kumar Verma stood wiping his tears. “He’d just gone back to college… Nitin (as the family called him) was a very smart boy, always tinkering around on his laptop,” the devastated father, a newspaper vendor, said.

Story continues below this ad

Harsh, who is survived by his parents and two elder sisters, was from Delhi’s Palam Colony. He aspired to become an engineer.

Ajay recalled using his father’s pension to pay his son’s first-year fees and living expenses. “I thought I’d somehow manage to pay for the next three years,” he said, adding, “I haven’t told my wife yet.”

Ishan’s father, Premchand Sharma, who lives in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, was awoken by a late-night call from police. “They told me my son fell and hurt himself, so we rushed over to Delhi as soon as we could,” he said. “I haven’t told his mother yet. We’ve told her that Ishan is in the ICU,” said Premchand, who was accompanied by his younger son, class XI student Devansh.

Chaitanya (17), a first-year Delhi University student and Ishan’s childhood friend, said, “He was quite self-reliant and had done all the college admission paperwork on his own… He never wanted to bother his family with anything.”

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
New Delhi