Denied entry by nightclub in US, Indian-Origin student dies due to...

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student Akul Dhawan, an 18-year-old Indian-American, died last month following reports that he had been missing for several hours. The Indian-American student died from hypothermia this week in Champaign, Illinois, according to the Champaign County Coroner's Office. "Acute alcohol intoxication and prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures, which significantly contributed to his death," the office said.

On January 20, the student's body was discovered on the rear porch of a building close to the university campus in West Urbana, Illinois. Although the campus police were looking into the cause of death, there were indications of hypothermia when his body was discovered.

Akul and his friends went out for drinks on January 20. He and his friends made the decision to head to the Canopy Club, a location near the campus that they had previously visited, at about 11:30 p.m. 

The club personnel refused to let him in. Detectives said that he turned down two rideshare vehicles that were requested for him in addition to trying to enter the club "multiple times" but being turned away by staff each time.

With wind chills between -20 and -30 degrees, Illinois and a large portion of the Midwest endured bitterly cold and freezing temperatures in the second half of January. 

A friend requested that the campus police search him after he failed to return multiple calls. The "likely path" that Dhawan would have taken back to campus was where the policeman drove "at a walking pace" in an attempt to find him, but he was not there. 

The following morning, a university employee reported "a man on the back porch of a building" to the police and emergency medical services. "Dead at the time he was found," according to the police.

A friend requested that the campus police search him after he failed to return multiple calls. The "likely path" that Dhawan would have taken back to campus was where the policeman drove "at a walking pace" in an attempt to find him, but he was not there. 

The following morning, a university employee reported "a man on the back porch of a building" to the police and emergency medical services. "Dead at the time he was found," according to the police.

Based on location-tracking information from their son's phone, Akul's parents, Ish and Ritu Dhawan, said their son was discovered only 400 feet from the place where he was reported missing. 

Dhawan, who turned eighteen in September of last year, defied his parents' wishes for him to stay closer to home by enrolling in the University of Illinois' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to study robotics, according to The News-Gazette.