18-yr-old found dead at friend’s pool party

An 18-year-old man drowned in a swimming pool at a farmhouse on Jail Road in Bhondsi under mysterious circumstances on Saturday, police said on Sunday, adding that the deceased was attending a birthday party at the spot.

The deceased, Ishaan Aggarwal, was a first-year Bcom student at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce in Pitampura, Delhi.

According to police, the incident occurred between 5 and 6 pm on Saturday, and for nearly 30 minutes, none of Aggarwal’s friends, who were also in the pool, realised that he had drowned. Once they discovered him at the bottom of the pool, they pulled him out and rushed him to a hospital where the doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, the police said.

Inspector Ajay Kumar, Bhondsi station house officer, “The swimming pool’s depth was not so great that any adult would drown. However, safety measures such as a dedicated swimmer for the pool were prima facie absent.”

In CCTV footage of the spot, Aggarwal can be seen entering the pool while some other people are already in it. “As far as we know, he was not a swimmer, and he might have slipped after getting into the pool,” said Kumar.

A RESIDENT OF EAST DELHI’S ANAND VIHAR, ISHAAN AGGARWAL WAS A FIRST-YEAR B.COM STUDENT AT SRI GURU GOBIND SINGH COLLEGE OF COMMERCE IN PITAMPURA

An 18-year-old man, who went for a party with his friends at a farmhouse on Jail Road in Gurugram’s Bhondsi, drowned while he was in a swimming pool on the premises, police officers aware of the matter said on Sunday.

Police identified the man as Ishaan Aggarwal, a resident of east Delhi’s Anand Vihar. A firstyear B Com student at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce in Pitampura, he was at the farmhouse with 20-30 college friends for a birthday party, officers said.

Investigators said the incident occurred between 5pm and 6pm on Saturday. They said the friends were relaxing in the pool when someone realised that Ishaan was missing.

They started hunting for him when he was spotted at the bottom of the swimming pool after which he was immediately pulled out.

Officers said Ishaan’s friends rushed him to a private hospital in Sector 38 in their car, but doctors declared him dead on arrival and informed the police.

Inspector Ajay Kumar, station house officer of Bhondsi police station, said after they were informed, they reached the hospital and took the body for an autopsy.

“We also sent a team to the farmhouse for an investigation. The depth of the swimming pool in question was around 4 feet — not enough for an adult to drown. However, safety measures like a dedicated lifeguard for the pool were prima facie found absent which could have averted the incident,” Kumar said.

Police said that an autopsy was carried out on Sunday morning, following which the body was handed over to the family.

HT reached out to the family, but they did not respond to calls.

Dr Lalit Chopra, who carried out the autopsy, said prima facie, the reason behind the death was drowning. “There were no injury marks on the body. We will hand over the report to the police soon,” he added.

The SHO said police have retrieved CCTV footage which shows Ishaan entering the pool at around 4.30pm, when his friends were also in the pool.

“The pool was around 4 feet deep. By the time his friends could spot him at 5pm, Aggarwal had been underwater for almost half an hour. As far as we know, he was not a swimmer. He might have slipped after getting in the pool,” Kumar said.

On a complaint by Anil Kumar Aggarwal, the deceased’s father, a first information report (FIR) was registered on Sunday morning against the farmhouse owner and other unknown employees under sections 34 (common intention) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code at Bhondsi police station, said police.

In the FIR, the deceased’s father said one of Ishaan’s college friends called his wife to inform the family that their son was admitted at a private hospital in Gurugram.

“We rushed to the hospital and the duty doctor told us that he was brought dead,” Aggarwal said in the FIR.

Aggarwal has also alleged that there were no lifeguards or life saving instruments for the pool.

“We feel if a lifeguard or other safety equipment were available at the swimming pool, then he could have been saved,” he said in the FIR.

The SHO said the owner of the farmhouse is absconding, and police teams are on the lookout for him.