NEW DELHI: Business student Yashvendra Singh had come home from US just 10 days ago, looking forward to spending time with his family. Instead, his family and friends stood outside Safdarjung Hospital Saturday, waiting to take home the body of the 20-year-old.They alleged that systemic negligence led to his death. For the woman accompanying Singh, a friend he met at the university, some locals turned out to be angels in disguise — they climbed into the drain and pulled her to safety.

An eyewitness, Pradeep, a local RWA president, said, “I came around 6am when two of his friends said ‘please save our friend’. He was stuck in the driving seat and the seat belt would not open. He choked on the drain water.

Police removed and rushed him to hospital, but he was dead by then.”Singh was pursuing his business degree at a university in Bloomington, Indiana. While the family moved frequently because of his father’s postings, Singh had completed his schooling from an institution in Chanakyapuri before leaving for higher studies abroad in 2024. During his school years, he was a national-level basketball player and a gold medallist.

He is survived by his father, a serving brigadier in Indian Army posted in Kolkata, mother and elder brother, who works in US.Singh’s mother came to the city around a month ago to be with her father, a doctor who runs a hospital in Bareilly and is undergoing treatment for cancer. “We were all so anxious about his grandfather’s health. Little did we know we would be laying his young grandson to rest,” said an uncle from Muzaffarnagar.

The grandfather is staying at the Army guesthouse in Delhi Cantonment while receiving treatment, he said.Friends and colleagues of Singh’s father remembered the young man for the promising future ahead of him. “Authorities must examine the circumstances surrounding the incident, particularly in light of repeated similar deaths linked to alleged civic negligence in the city,” a family friend said. His childhood friends also struggled to come to terms with the loss.“Singh was going to the gym with the friend,” the uncle said. Police, however, said they had stayed at a friend’s house the previous night and were going to her place.While Singh’s paternal grandfather lives in Dehradun, the family is originally from Bulandshahr in UttarPradesh.As family members prepared for his final rites, his near and dear ones struggled to reconcile the vibrant young man they remembered with the tragedy. What was meant to be a visit home has left behind a grieving family, heartbroken friends and countless unanswered questions.