Indian doctoral student killed in shooting incident in US

New York, November 23

A 26-year-old Indian doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati was found dead in his car after a shooting incident in the US state of Ohio.

Aaditya Adlakha was driving on the Western Hills Viaduct, Cincinnati, when his vehicle was hit multiple times in a gunfire, which erupted earlier this month, Ohio-based WLWT news channel reported.

Police said they found Adlakha in the vehicle that had collided with a wall, and that there were at least three bullet holes visible in the driver’s-side window.

The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office said Adlakha died on November 11, two days after he was taken to UC Medical Centre following the shooting.

No arrests have been made so far, and police are still investigating circumstances surrounding the shooting incident.

Enrolled in the College of Medicine’s Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Programme, Adlakha was planning to complete his doctorate in 2025.

He had a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Ramjas College in New Delhi, and received his master’s degree in physiology in 2020 from All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Andrew Filak, Dean of the College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, described Adlakha as “exceedingly kind and humorous, intelligent and sharp”, and said that his research was “novel and transformative”.

“Grief has no timeline. We need to care for ourselves and each other as we mourn the loss of Aaditya and remember him as a friend, student and colleague,” Filak told WLWT.

Adlakha received a stipend and an award to support a research project on ulcerative colitis last year, according to a university statement.