By Marri Ramu

Copyright thehindu

Sahastranshu Pandey, a final year student of B.A. LLB of NALSAR, developed complications after he ate kurkure, a crunchy puff corn snack, while watching a movie in his room on the academy’s campus on the night of September 20, the Shamirpet police of Cyberabad said on Tuesday.

“We spoke to three students who were present there then. They said he ate that snack before complaining of choked throat,” Shamirpet Inspector S. Srinath said.

The police began verifying the circumstances that resulted in the death of Pandey who was declared brought dead at Rush hospital near Suchitra on September 20.

The police decided to issue notice to the management of NALSAR and the Rush hospital seeking to know why they failed to inform the police about it immediately.

The Shamirpet police team on Tuesday went to NALSAR premises at Shamirpet and began constructing the sequence of events to ascertain facts.

When Pandey complained of choked throat and fell unconscious, his friends tried to ensure he regained consciousness. His younger brother studying in the same academy was also around, the police said.

“We are told NALSAR Vice Chancellor rushed to Rush hospital. After speaking to Pandey’s parents living in Bilaspur over phone and with the consent of his younger brother, they decided to shift the body to his hometown,” the Inspector said.

Soon after Pandey complained of ‘throat issue’, he was first rushed to Ozone hospital on Alwal-Bollarum main road. After the ECG check, the doctors gave up hopes. Then, he was taken to Rush hospital, the Inspector said.

VC statement

Meanwhile, NALSAR VC Srikrishna Deva Rao and the students clarified through a joint statement that there was no link between the festival celebrations on the night of September 20 and the student’s death.

“He had no health issues,” the statement said.

The university had informed the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, who is ex-officio Chancellor of the University, about incident on Sunday night and received condolence message on the same, the V-C stated.

According to the statement, the students reported that the night duty doctor at the campus was unable to respond effectively and was unwilling to rush to the situation and administer critical emergency care.

Throughout the ambulance journey from the campus to the hospital, the doctor was unable to assist in anyway. He was unable to operate the oxygen cylinder in the ambulance and instead, requested the driver to assist him in switching it on, the statement said. The administration will ensure that the current lapses in the primary health centre at NALSAR shall be fixed at the earliest, and that such an incident shall not occur again, due to these institutional lapses, it said.