Ghaziabad: A 14-year-old girl died after falling from the 12th floor of her Raj Nagar Extension flat on Friday night, just days after returning from Shirdi with two gold medals at a national-level rope-skipping event. Prachi, police said, had gone to the balcony to collect clothes put out to dry when she fell.The Class 9 student of Dehradun Public School in Sanjay Nagar was at home with her parents, younger sister and grandparents when the incident occurred around 9pm in Tower G of Rajnagar Residency. Her father told police she had gone to bring in the clothes. The exact circumstances of the fall are being examined.Residents and security personnel rushed to the spot after hearing a loud thud. Prachi was taken to Yashoda Hospital in Sanjay Nagar, where doctors declared her dead on arrival.Police and a forensic field unit inspected the society after receiving the emergency call and collected evidence. The body was sent for an autopsy. CCTV footage is also being examined to establish what happened before the fall.ACP Ziauddin Ahmed said police were speaking to family members and examining the circumstances. “Further legal proceedings will be taken on the basis of the autopsy report and statements recorded during the inquiry,” he said.The tragedy came days after Prachi’s sporting achievement. She had returned from Shirdi, where she won gold in the Double Dutch pair freestyle and Double Dutch single freestyle categories at the CBSE Rope Skipping National Championship. Her victories had brought celebrations at home.Her father, Suresh Chand, works as a software engineer with a multinational company. Police said preliminary inquiry had not indicated any other cause behind the incident.The fall is the latest in a series of high-rise deaths in NCR. Last month, a 24-year-old DU PhD scholar died after falling from the 27th floor of a Ghaziabad highrise. In March, a three-year-old boy died after falling from a 12th-floor balcony in Greater Noida West.
