Ghaziabad: Akhilesh Purohit’s in-laws in Dehradun had planned a birthday party for him on June 30. On Sunday, the 30-year-old software engineer, who worked with a private company in Noida, was found dead inside his Kwid car near a petrol pump operating close to Bharat City society under the jurisdiction of Teela Mor police station.The police suspected that Akhilesh, who left his house to bring back his wife from Dehradun, died due to suffocation inside the car after drinking. Police investigation revealed that he was drinking alcohol inside the car after parking it adjacent to the road. Police said that while drinking, Akhilesh, a resident of Nistauli, turned on the AC and closed all the windows. They said he fell asleep inside the car and during this time the car ran out of petrol, leading to his suffocation and death.A senior officer said that police contacted some experts in the case and they told the police that once the AC was off, the driver was exhaling carbon dioxide and inhaling carbon monoxide. This gas mixed with haemoglobin, which stopped the flow of oxygen to the heart and brain. Due to this, the man died.On Monday, Akhilesh’s father, Kailash, alleged foul play. “Today, we conducted his last rites as per rituals. I suspect that this is a case of murder and soon I will file a written complaint with police to investigate the matter,” Kailash told TOI. ACP of Shalimar Garden Atul Kumar Singh said, “We sent the body for autopsy and reports didn’t reveal the cause of death, due to which we preserved the viscera in the case. Yet, we haven’t received any complaint in the matter, but we are checking the CCTV footage of the nearby areas.”Kailash said his son Akhilesh was the only child he had and “now he is dead”. He said Akhilesh was the only bread earner in the family. “He married Pragya, a resident of Dehradun, about one and a half years ago and she went to her parents’ home about a week ago. A birthday party for Akhilesh was planned at the house on June 30 (Tuesday) by Pragya and he was going to Dehradun to bring back his wife and their eight-month-old son. Around 3.30pm on Saturday, Akhilesh left the house to go to Dehradun in his car. Then we called him around 8pm, but his phone was switched off. After some time, once again we tried but didn’t connect with him and then we called Pragya and she told us that Akhilesh would go to Saharanpur for an office meeting and then he would be free late at night from the meeting. She also told us that Akhilesh informed her in a message that he would reach Dehradun by Sunday morning. When he didn’t reach his in-laws’ house by 10am and his phone was again coming off, panic started and we tried to trace him. We called more than hundreds of people, including relatives, his office colleagues and friends, but didn’t get any information about him. Between 2 and 3 pm on Sunday, we received a call from police and they informed us about the body of Akhilesh that they found. They called us to the govt hospital where we identified the body,” he added.The ACP said that around 1pm on Sunday, police received information by some locals that a person inside the car didn’t open the gate and there was no movement in the body as well. A police team reached the spot and opened the gate of the driver seat. “When we checked, the man was not breathing and smell of liquor was coming out. We also found a bottle of alcohol along with some snacks packets and a glass,” the ACP said.“We are suspecting that first Akhilesh purchased alcohol from a nearby liquor shop and parked the car adjacent to the road. Later, he consumed the alcohol alone after putting on the AC of the car. Once he lost his consciousness, he fell asleep. After some hours, the petrol of the car ran out and due to which the AC was also switched off. The windows of the car were closed and he didn’t breathe easily and later died in his sleep,” the ACP added.
