A 22-year-old college student drowned in a pond near his college in southwest Kolkata’s Thakurpukur when he went to fetch a ball on Tuesday.
Police said Arkadeep Bachar, a resident of 450 Raja Rammohan Roy Road in Thakurpukur, was playing football with his friends on the premises of Vivekananda College on Tuesday morning. The ball flew over the boundary wall and landed in the pond adjoining the ground.
Arkadeep went to retrieve the ball but slipped into the water.
“His friends realised that he needed help. But he had passed out by the time he was dragged out of the water. He was taken to Vidyasagar State General Hospital, where he was declared dead,” said an officer of Thakurpukur police station.
The police said Arkadeep was a BA (general) second-year student of the journalism and mass communication at Vivekananda College.
An unnatural death case has been started at Thakurpukur police station.
Tapan Kumar Poddar, principal of Vivekananda College, said some students were in a habit of playing football before class.
“I heard about the incident. Arkadeep could not swim, but he still went to retrieve the ball. I heard that some of the college employees found him in the water and dragged him out by his hair. He was alive then,” Poddar said.
The college alerted officers at Thakurpukur police station and they arranged for an ambulance.
The student was taken to the hospital by the ambulance.
The city has witnessed a number of incidents of students drowning while taking a dip after a game or after slipping into the water.
“People who can’t swim should not enter into water without the assistance of those who can swim,” said an officer of Thakurpukur police station.