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Indian American student who froze to death in US was “acutely intoxicated”
Dhawan was denied re-entry to a club following which he went missing and was later found dead
Akul Dhawan / Image: LinkedIn
An 18-year-old Indian American student who was found frozen to death in January died of hypothermia, which was worsened by “acute alcohol intoxication and prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures," the Champaign County Coroner's Office in Illinois revealed this week.
Akul Dhawan, a student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, tragically passed away blocks away from the university campus after reportedly being missing for several hours. Signs of hypothermia were evident on his body, which prompted an investigation into the exact cause of his death by campus police.
Denied re-entry
Dhawan was out for drinks with friends on January 19. At approximately 11:30 p.m., he and his friends decided to go to the Canopy Club, a venue near the campus that they had visited previously that night.
The club employees repeatedly barred Dhawan from entering, following which he declined two rideshare vehicles that were called for him, preliminary investigation by the police said. Illinois and other parts of the Midwest faced severe cold and freezing temperatures during the latter part of January, with wind chills dropping to between -20 to -30 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dhwana’s friends made multiple attempts to reach him via phone calls, all of which went unanswered. Concerned, a friend contacted campus police to search for Dhawan. An officer searched the route Dhawan was likely to have taken back to campus but did not spot him.
The following morning, university employees discovered a man on the back porch of a building and alerted authorities, as well as emergency medical service. Police said that Dhawan was found dead at that time.
Last month, the coroner's office made an announcement stating that the preliminary report did not indicate any signs of severe trauma. “There was no foul play involved and the death is initially believed to be accidental.”
Campus police accused of negligence
Residing in the San Francisco Bay area of California, Dhawan's parents, Ish and Ritu Dhawan, filed a complaint against the university's police department, claiming negligence in the search procedure.
In an open letter published in The News-Gazette, the parents wrote, “We have been asking why Akul was found 10 hours later, rather than immediately after he was reported missing, when could still be saved. The locations where he was reported missing and where he was found are less than 200 feet apart. 200 feet!”
About Akul Dhawan
Dhawan was a student at the University of Illinois' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He was just beginning his second semester at and had only completed one course in his major.
The 18-year-old reportedly chose to study robotics in the Illinois university despite his parent's opposition, who wished for him to study closer to home in California.
Following his death, University engineering department head Bruce Hajek said in a statement, “We were privileged to have him in our community and were looking forward to his unique contributions to the field. We will offer all the support we can to his classmates and friends.”
Rising cases of deaths
Several deaths of Indian-origin students have been reported in the United States since the beginning of 2024 due to a variety of causes, ranging from violent crimes to suicides.
Sameer Kamath from Purdue University was found dead in Warren County on February 5. Neel Acharya who had been missing was confirmed dead by the same university authorities last month. In a horrifying incident, Vivek Saini died after he was hammered 50 times in Georgia’s Lithonia on January 16.
Last week, an Indian-origin family from Kerala was found dead at their San Mateo home with the police investigating the case as a murder-suicide. Suspected of murdering his wife Alice Benziger, 36, and their twin sons, aged four, Anand Henry, a 37-year-old ex-Meta software engineer, allegedly turned the gun on himself after killing them.
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