A 30-year-old trainee Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer drowned in a pool at Indian Foreign Club Institute (IFCI) in South Delhi’s Ber Sarai area while trying to save his woman colleague in the wee hours of Tuesday. His family members said the deceased, Ashish Dahiya, was an ace swimmer and it is hard to believe that he could have drowned.
It appears that he hit the wall of the pool while diving to save the woman officer and lost consciousness.
According to police, Dahiya — a 2016-batch Jammu & Kashmir Cadre IAS (trainee) officer and a resident of Sonipat in Haryana — and his friends from the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS) were celebrating their last day of training at the institute run by the Ministry of External Affairs on Monday night. There were 25 trainee civil servants at the party.
“During the poolside party late in the evening, they decided to go for a swim in the club’s pool,” said Additional DCP, south district, Chinmoy Biswal.
Eyewitnesses claimed that a woman officer slipped and fell into the pool and many,including Dahiya, jump in to rescue her.
“As the woman officer was safely pulled out, they realised that Dahiya was missing. Soon his body was seen floating in the pool,” said the Additional DCP, adding, “They immediately fished out Dahiya and tried to revive him by administering Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).”
As their efforts failed, he was rushed to Fortis Hospital, where he was declared brought dead on arrival at 12:50 am.
In the meantime, they made a PCR call around 12:15 am, saying that the officer was being taken to hospital after he drowned.
Police said that whether he was in an inebriated state or not could only be ascertained after receiving the post-mortem report of Dahiya.
Police said Dahiya had come to Delhi a month ago to complete his training and was staying at his friend’s place in South Delhi.
Police said his family was informed about the unfortunate death and they have reached Delhi.
A team of senior officers of New Delhi district examined the spot to collect evidence and to record statements of relevant persons regarding investigation of this tragic episode.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has constituted a three-member medical board for the postmortem of the IAS officer on the request of the Delhi Police, Biswal said.
Dahiya was a 2016-batch IAS officer who was allotted the Jammu & Kashmir cadre. He had secured 53rd rank in the UPSC exam. A family member said he was to join his service in Srinagar on Wednesday as an assistant collector.
Prior to becoming as IAS officer, Dahiya worked as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) with the Himachal Police for over three years thereafter he reappeared for UPSC and joined as an assistant commissioner in the India Revenue Services (Customs and Central Excise) in Hyderabad. He again appeared for the UPSC with better rank and joined as an IAS officer.
He is survived by his wife Pragya, a doctor by profession.
Kuldeep Singh, deceased’s uncle, said, “Ashish informed family members that as they (all officers) will be joining their respective cadre by this week, so they decided to hold get-together party.”
Singh also told that Ashish had also won the director’s gold medal a fortnight ago during his IAS training.