Kharagpur: A second-year student of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, allegedly choked to death while attempting to swallow a tablet late on Monday evening.
The incident occurred inside a hostel room of the institute. His roommates and other students rushed Chandradeep Pawar to the B C Roy Hospital on campus, but all efforts to revive him failed.
The police have taken custody of Pawar’s body and sent it for autopsy. His roommates and others are being questioned to know the exact sequence of events that led to the death, an official said.
The student’s roommates have maintained that he was taking some medicines after dinner when he choked. They then rushed him to the hospital.
A medical bulletin issued by the hospital states: “Chandradeep Pawar was brought to the Emergency Room… at 10:20 pm on July 21 by his roommate and friends, with a history of sudden onset of shortness of breath following the ingestion of a tablet and collapse en route to (the hospital). When he was brought to the ER, there was an absence of pulse, BP was not recordable, and the periphery was cyanosed.”
The bulletin further stated that CPR was immediately started with other lifesaving drugs, and he was attended to immediately by the on-duty doctor and three senior doctors. “He was intubated and an endotracheal tube was inserted (by which a piece of the tablet lodged in the bronchus was extruded) but cardiac activity could not be brought back despite our best efforts. Complete CPR protocol was followed but he could not be revived. ECG revealed complete asystole. He was declared dead at 11:05 pm,” the bulletin stated.
Pawar, from Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, was a second year electrical engineering student at the institute. His family has been informed.
