Saddest Story of 4 IITians
Four IIT-Delhi final-year students, who were on a road trip to west Rajasthan to celebrate their placements, were killed and two other students injured when the Innova they were travelling in overturned near Jaisalmer on Sunday morning.
The students were returning after camping out at Sam and were 5km from Jaisalmer when one of the tyres burst, resulting in the vehicle rolling over several times. While three students died on the spot, another succumbed to injuries in hospital. The Innova driver and two students — a girl and a boy — were being treated at MDM hospital in Jodhpur and were reported to be stable.
The deceased have been identified as Pallav Aggarwal from Chattisgarh, Bihar resident Archana Mandal, Diksha Gautam from Delhi and Mayank Goel.
"The six were travelling in an Innova hired from a travel agency. The driver could not control the vehicle after a tyre burst. Archana came from Gudiya Bakibaka in Bihar and Diksha from Yamuna Vihar in Delhi. Pallav hailed from Koria village in Chattisgarh's Mahendragarh district," said Kotwali police station in-charge Jetha Ram.
The IIT Delhi campus was in shock and disbelief on Sunday evening, as students and teachers gathered on the campus to remember those who died. "All six students had been placed in good firms. They were very excited about it and wanted to celebrate. No one would have imagined it would turn out this way," said a friend of Archana, a student of electrical engineering.
"Archana was a high-spirited and a very friendly girl. She used to represent IIT at inter-colleges sports meets. Archana and Diksha were room-mates. Diksha had been placed by Goldman Sachs and they were both very excited. Earlier, this month they had gone on a trip to Goa. I cannot believe that they are no more with us," the friend added.
The two injured students are expected to be brought to the capital by Monday afternoon. The bodies are also likely to reach the campus by Monday afternoon.
"We are ensuring that the bodies are brought here by Monday afternoon so that they can soon be handed over to the families, who have been informed about the accident. Most of them are on their way," said Rakesh Kumar, IIT registrar.
With barely two months left for the dual degree holders to complete their course and most of them being placed already, this is usually a time for celebration for final-year students. On Sunday, the first floor of Kailash Hostel where two of the deceased girls' lived, wore a deserted look as most final-year students were out.
A day after four students of IIT-Delhi lost their lives in an accident near Jaisalmer, sources said the institute was considering awarding one of the students a BTech degree posthumously following a request by the student’s parents. The degree, if awarded by the academic senate, will be given for purely sentimental reasons serving no practical purpose, the sources said. All four were final-year students of BTech-MTech (dual degree) programme.
Sources at IIT-Delhi said although granting degrees when the course for a particular programme was incomplete was not permissible under rules, the academic senate, which takes the final call on such matters, might approve the request given the “exceptional nature of the circumstances”.
“Although the students had completed only about half of their final-year course load, their course credits were complete for a four-year programme. So, in such a case, even if a complete MTech degree cannot be awarded, a BTech can certainly be awarded posthumously, although only for purely sentimental reasons serving no practical purpose,” a source said.
IIT-Delhi authorities refused to comment, saying the “matter was highly sensitive”. They, however, said it could be considered by the academic senate.
The students were returning after camping out at Sam and were 5km from Jaisalmer when one of the tyres burst, resulting in the vehicle rolling over several times. While three students died on the spot, another succumbed to injuries in hospital. The Innova driver and two students — a girl and a boy — were being treated at MDM hospital in Jodhpur and were reported to be stable.
The deceased have been identified as Pallav Aggarwal from Chattisgarh, Bihar resident Archana Mandal, Diksha Gautam from Delhi and Mayank Goel.
"The six were travelling in an Innova hired from a travel agency. The driver could not control the vehicle after a tyre burst. Archana came from Gudiya Bakibaka in Bihar and Diksha from Yamuna Vihar in Delhi. Pallav hailed from Koria village in Chattisgarh's Mahendragarh district," said Kotwali police station in-charge Jetha Ram.
The IIT Delhi campus was in shock and disbelief on Sunday evening, as students and teachers gathered on the campus to remember those who died. "All six students had been placed in good firms. They were very excited about it and wanted to celebrate. No one would have imagined it would turn out this way," said a friend of Archana, a student of electrical engineering.
"Archana was a high-spirited and a very friendly girl. She used to represent IIT at inter-colleges sports meets. Archana and Diksha were room-mates. Diksha had been placed by Goldman Sachs and they were both very excited. Earlier, this month they had gone on a trip to Goa. I cannot believe that they are no more with us," the friend added.
The two injured students are expected to be brought to the capital by Monday afternoon. The bodies are also likely to reach the campus by Monday afternoon.
"We are ensuring that the bodies are brought here by Monday afternoon so that they can soon be handed over to the families, who have been informed about the accident. Most of them are on their way," said Rakesh Kumar, IIT registrar.
With barely two months left for the dual degree holders to complete their course and most of them being placed already, this is usually a time for celebration for final-year students. On Sunday, the first floor of Kailash Hostel where two of the deceased girls' lived, wore a deserted look as most final-year students were out.
A day after four students of IIT-Delhi lost their lives in an accident near Jaisalmer, sources said the institute was considering awarding one of the students a BTech degree posthumously following a request by the student’s parents. The degree, if awarded by the academic senate, will be given for purely sentimental reasons serving no practical purpose, the sources said. All four were final-year students of BTech-MTech (dual degree) programme.
Sources at IIT-Delhi said although granting degrees when the course for a particular programme was incomplete was not permissible under rules, the academic senate, which takes the final call on such matters, might approve the request given the “exceptional nature of the circumstances”.
“Although the students had completed only about half of their final-year course load, their course credits were complete for a four-year programme. So, in such a case, even if a complete MTech degree cannot be awarded, a BTech can certainly be awarded posthumously, although only for purely sentimental reasons serving no practical purpose,” a source said.
IIT-Delhi authorities refused to comment, saying the “matter was highly sensitive”. They, however, said it could be considered by the academic senate.
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