Akul Dhawan’s family accuses Illinois University police of negligence  

Parents of dead Indian American student allege negligence while searching for their son after he went missing

The family of an Indian American student found dead last Saturday has filed a complaint alleging University of Illinois (UI) police officers were negligent while searching for their son after he went missing.

Ish and Ritu Dhawan told the local News-Gazette Wednesday that location-tracking data on their 18-year-old son’s phone last showed he was outside Canopy Club in Urbana around midnight Friday before the device ran out of battery.

Police on Saturday said one of Akul Dhawan’s friends reported him missing at 1:23 am. Akul was found dead at 11:08 a.m. in the 1200 block of West Nevada Street when a UI employee discovered him on the back porch of a building.

The locations where Akul was reported missing and where he was found — more than nine hours later — are less than 400 feet apart.

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“This is bizarre, that a kid is never found who was just less than a block, like one minute away, sitting there, dead, frozen to death,” Ish Dhawan was quoted as saying. “Imagine as a dad and mom what’s going through in our mind. I visualize his every minute that my son froze to death on a university campus.”

“We really need answers,” his mother said. “What is the proof that they totally searched in this area, around the area they’re talking (about), this half-block? My kid would have been found.”

An autopsy on Akul Dhawan found evidence of hypothermic skin changes, Champaign County Coroner Steve Thuney said Wednesday. Preliminary information suggests no significant trauma. A final report is pending toxicology studies.

The News-Gazette cited UI spokeswoman Robin Kaler as saying police searched for Akul Dhawan in multiple places Saturday morning after a friend said he had not answered his phone in an hour.

Police checked the area where the student was last seen, the student’s residence hall and the likely path between the two locations, including the main Quad and streets,” Kaler told the newspaper.

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“Police also checked local hospitals, accessed student ID card information to see if he had used it to enter any campus buildings, and attempted to reach the student via telephone. The search did not yield any additional information about his possible location.

“Any loss of life, but particularly one as bright as Akul’s, is immeasurably tragic,” Kaler added.

Akul’s family described him as an organized, methodical and talented young man who was fascinated with technology. His father said he always had to have the new iPhone whenever Apple released a new model because he knew all about its changes.

Akul’s uncle, Rishab Mehandru, told the newspaper his nephew was always the smartest one in the room and would win all the games he played with his family.

“I can’t tell you, he’s such a dedicated kid. He started a 5,000-piece Lego — that was the last thing he got for Christmas — and he built it overnight. I was surprised; I went to bed, and he was building it in the morning,” Mehandru was quoted as saying. “I don’t know what he could have done for everyone, what he could’ve done for society, but I just feel so sad for him.”

Akul, who turned 18 in September, received many college acceptance letters, including one from the University of California, his father said. But his passion for robotics was what drove him to enroll in the University of Illinois’ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering despite his parents’ opposition.

His parents, who live in California, said they had wanted their son to go to school closer to home. Akul’s family told the newspaper they met with top university officials while in town this week.

Mehandru said they want to know more about the UI’s search policy and if there are any issues with its procedures in order to prevent anybody else from having to endure the pain they are suffering.

“I feel like part of my soul has been taken out,” Ish Dhawan said. “We are his parents, and we have no words to describe how we are feeling,” his mother said. “This will be long-life pain. We have to live with this all our whole life.”