Hypothermia, Acute Intoxication Caused Akul Dhawan’s Death: Coroner

India-West News Desk

CHICAGO, IL – Akul Dhawan, the 18-year-old first-year student at the University of Illinois in Urbana, died due to hypothermia, Champaign County Coroner’s Office said after a toxicology report that added, “acute alcohol intoxication and prolonged exposure to extremely cold temperatures, significantly contributed to his death.”

Dhawan had been out drinking with his friends at a club close to the campus that day and according to CCTV, he and his friends had visited the Canopy Club that day but were denied entry at around 11.30 pm when they tried to re-enter the club. The Kansas City quoted investigators as saying that Dhawan tried to enter the club “multiple times, but was repeatedly denied by staff,” and that he turned down two rideshare vehicles that were called for him.

The university said in a statement that one of his friends reached out to the campus police at 1.23 am on the same day after calls to him went unanswered through the night. Police said that they searched the premises and contacted his friends but did not find him.

He was found at 11 am the next day, behind a building a short distance from the club.

Dhawan’s parents Ish and Ritu Dhawan had written an open letter charging university officials of not following up quickly on their missing son.

“We have been asking why Akul was found 10 hours later, rather than immediately after he was reported missing, when he could still be saved,” his family wrote. “The locations where he was reported missing and where he was found are less than 200 feet apart. 200 feet!”