Noida: The family of Harshit Bhatt, a 23-year-old Amity University student who drowned in a water-filled excavation pit in Sector 94 on Wednesday, has questioned how a trained swimmer who aspired to become a coaching professional could drown in a construction pit metres from his campus.Police said the autopsy report confirmed “accidental drowning”. They also said they had detained the three friends accompanying Harshit for questioning.Harshit, a resident of Indirapuram, had appeared for his sixth-semester BSc physical education examination, his final papers, on Wednesday morning. After the exam ended around 1 pm, he bought food, gathered with three friends, and the group made their way towards the now-stalled excavation site for a proposed Noida Habitat and Convention Centre behind the Supernova building, apparently for a post-exam picnic.He entered the water at 3.45 pm, moved deeper into the pit, and began to drown. A friend attempted to rescue him but turned back. According to police, they made a call to Dial 112 at 4.06 pm and an unit arrived at 4.20 pm. They retrieved Harshit with divers, and administered CPR before fire brigade and SDRF teams reached the spot. Harshit was declared dead at the district hospital later.
Harshit entered the water at 3.45 pm on Wednesday, moved deeper into the pit, and began to drown. A friend attempted to rescue him but turned back
A medical panel, which conducted the autopsy under video surveillance, found mud-like particles in Harshit’s stomach and mouth, consistent with inhalation of contaminated water. Minor injury marks of approximately 0.5 mm were observed on his back, arms and legs, which police attributed to friction sustained during rescue efforts.Viscera samples have been preserved to determine whether Harshit had consumed alcohol, even as medical reports of all three friends present at the scene confirmed they had consumed alcohol.
Harshit, a resident of Indirapuram, had appeared for his sixth-semester BSc physical education examination, his final papers, on Wednesday morning
Harshit’s mother, Deepmala, rejected the police theory of death by drowning. She described her son as “disciplined and physically trained swimmer, focused on a career in coaching”. She claimed the injury marks she saw at the mortuary told a different story.“When I saw my son in the mortuary, there were V-shaped marks on his back and dark injury marks on his hands and legs. It looked like he was attacked with a pointed object. I believe my son was murdered. I want justice,” she said. She added that she recognised two of the three friends who were with Harshit but did not know the third.Harshit’s father, Lalit Chandra, who serves with the technical wing of the Indian Army and is posted in Ladakh, reached Noida on Thursday afternoon. The family took the body to Ghaziabad, where last rites were performed.Additional DCP Manisha Singh said all three friends were taken into custody for questioning. Further action would follow once the family files a formal written complaint, he said.Pit dug in 2022 for habitat centreThe site where Harshit drowned was an excavation pit dug for the basement of a proposed Habitat and Convention Centre, which was being developed by the UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited (UPRNNL). The construction had stalled in 2022 after Noida Authority had cancelled the tender as UPRNNL had sublet the site to a third party that was excavating soil illegally. The pit, surrounded by a dense overgrowth, had been filled with water for a long time. Despite being located close to Amity University campus and Noida Expressway, the area was not cordoned or barricaded.The incident comes barely months after the drowning death of 27-year-old software engineer, Yuvraj Mehta, in Jan, whose car plunged into a construction pit in Sector 150 amid dense fog. The incident had prompted residents across Noida and NCR to demand better safeguards of open and abandoned excavation sites across the city.
