Professor Sameer Khandekar, the dean of student affairs and head of mechanical engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, died of cardiac arrest on Friday while giving a speech during an alumni meet at the university.
The 53-year-old professor collapsed while delivering his address at the institute’s auditorium and passed away. Reportedly, he was talking about ways to maintain good health before the incident took place. Some of his last words to the students were, “Take care of your health.”
Khandekar, while delivering his address, felt uneasy suddenly and experienced some pain in his chest. After some time, he started sweating profusely and collapsed on the stage.
He was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead upon arrival. As per Dr Neeraj Kumar, Khandekar was already dead before he was brought to the hospital.
“After going through his medical history and examining him, we can say that he either died due to cardiac arrest or cardiac block. Specific details will be cleared in the postmortem report,” he told India Today/Aaj Tak.
Khandekar had been suffering from cholesterol since 2019 and was undergoing continuous medication.
His son Pravah Khandekar, who is studying at Cambridge University, will conduct the last rites of his father, the India Today report further mentioned citing people associated with Khandekar.
He is survived by his parents, wife and son.
He had joined the reputed university in 2004 as an assistant professor. He later became an associate professor after which he was appointed as the department head of the mechanical department and student welfare dean.
The professor also has eight patents to his name.
(With inputs from Simer Chawla)
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