IIT Delhi prof booked for negligence in research scholar's death at Lothal excavation site

On November 27, Surabhi died while collecting soil samples from an excavation pit at the Harappan archaeological site in Lothal for her research. Her research supervisor, assistant professor Dixit, survived the accident.

The Ahmedabad district police has filed an FIR against an assistant professor of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi for alleged negligence that killed a PhD scholar Surabhi Verma in an accident at Harappan archaeological site in Lothal last November.

The Koth police station in Ahmedabad rural police on March 23 registered the FIR against assistant professor Yama Dixit. She has been booked under charges of causing death by negligence and endangering human life or personal safety due to negligence or recklessness.

The FIR has been filed on the basis of a written complaint given by Surabhi's father Ram Khelavan Verma, 58, a resident of Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh. On November 27, Surabhi died while collecting soil samples from an excavation pit at Lothal for her research. Her research supervisor, assistant professor Dixit, survived the accident. 

Verma has stated in the FIR, "On November 27, my daughter Surabhi had come to Gujarat for a project along with Yama Dixit. My daughter didn't have any knowledge about the project. On November 26, they went to an excavation site with IIT Gandhinagar professor Shikha Rai to Pariej for collecting samples. 

Next day on November 27, with IIT, Gandhinagar professor VN Prabhakaran and Shikha Rai, Surabhi went to Lothal. They were part of a paleoclimate project.

"Here, Dixit chose an area which was next to the road close to Lothal. They dug a trench 13 feet in length, 4 feet in width and 10 feet deep using a Hitachi, an excavator machine.

"Professor Dixit and my daughter Surabhi entered the trench to collect samples when the wall of the pit collapsed in which my daughter died of asphyxiation while professor Dixit suffered head injuries," Verma has mentioned in the FIR. 

Alleging that professor Dixit was negligent in her duty, Verma has said in his complaint that "Surabhi didn't have any knowledge in collecting samples and yet she was made to enter the pit. They also didn't have any safety equipment at the site."