The Ahmedabad Rural police have charged Professor Yama Dixit from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in connection with the death of PhD scholar Surabhi Verma, nearly four months after an excavation pit collapsed on both of them outside the Lothal Harappan valley civilisation site. The two had been conducting palaeoclimatology research. The tragic incident unfolded on November 27, 2024.
For months, the investigation seemed to stall, leaving many questions unanswered. Finally, on March 23, an FIR was registered based on a formal complaint by Surabhi’s father, 58-year-old Ram Khelawan Verma, a government teacher in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. Desperate for accountability, he had repeatedly approached the authorities over the past four months.
Ram Khelawan submitted four to five written applications to the police, urging them to “properly investigate” the suspicious circumstances surrounding his daughter’s death. His persistence reflected the pain of a grieving father who was determined not to let the matter fade into oblivion.
Verma’s postmortem was conducted on November 27. Her last rites were conducted a day after in Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, her home town.
According to a news report, Dixit was booked under BNS sections 106(1) (causing death by negligence) and 125(a) (endangering life or personal safety of others). Police officials said Dixit would be sent a notice to appear for questioning at Koth police station.
The FIR, published by the media house, states, “On November 27, 2024, Surabhi Verma and Yama Dixit, along with professor V N Prabhakar and Shikha Rai of IIT Gandhinagar, had gone for research purposes. There, Dixit chose an area next to the road passing next to the Lothal site. There, using a ‘Hitachi’, they dug a hole 13 feet in length, 4 feet in width, and 10 feet in depth.”
The Hitachi is an excavator machine deployed for road construction. It was allegedly repurposed by the researchers to dig a pit for their research.
According to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), the dig site is located about 50 metres from the Lothal Harappan valley civilisation site. Any area up to the limit of 100 metres from the monument or site is deemed prohibited.
The FIR adds, “Dixit and Verma went into this pit to take samples. At this time, the wall of the pit collapsed on top of Surabhi. She was buried and died due to asphyxiation. The wall also fell on Dixit, who suffered head injuries and was under treatment.”
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