Across the year, one headline after another chipped away at the glossy study-abroad promise. A student found dead in a room they had just started calling home. Another shot while working a night shift. Someone killed in a crash on an unfamiliar road. Some deaths were violent. Some were sudden. Some came with more questions than answers. But the pattern was hard to ignore: young Indians left for classrooms and campuses—and did not return. What makes 2025 feel heavier is not just the number of deaths, but how scattered and ordinary the circumstances often were. Different countries. Different courses. Different causes. No single story explains them all. Yet together, they force a harder conversation about what studying abroad really involves—beyond rankings, visas, and Instagram sunsets. Here is a look at the Indian students who lost their lives abroad in 2025, and what is known so far about them.
Shivank Avasthi (20)
Toronto, Canada | December 2025University of Toronto ScarboroughShivank Avasthi was already living the reality of doctoral life at the University of Toronto Scarborough, a phase of education defined less by classrooms and more by isolation, persistence, and intellectual risk. This was not an exploratory stint abroad. It was commitment. Years of research ahead, years already invested.In December 2025, he was shot dead near the campus. A homicide investigation followed, but what lingered longer was disbelief. His death unsettled Indian student communities across Canada because it punctured an assumption many families hold quietly but firmly: that elite universities in developed countries come bundled with safety. In reality, education and exposure often arrive together, especially in global cities where the university is part of the city—not shielded from it.
Ajit Singh Chaudhary (22)
Ufa, Russia | November 2025Bashkir State Medical UniversityAjit Singh Chaudhary was pursuing an MBBS at Bashkir State Medical University. He was one of the countless Indian students who leave home for medicine because competition for medical seats in India is tough to say the least. Medical education abroad, also, is rarely glamorous. It is not only long and demanding but also linguistically alien and isolating.In November 2025, Ajit went missing after leaving his hostel. Days later, his body was found near a dam in Ufa. His family sought answers, clarity, timelines—basic things that become harder to secure when grief unfolds inside an unfamiliar legal system. For Indian medical students abroad, vulnerability is not just academic; it is structural. When something goes wrong, distance amplifies helplessness.
Vijay Kumar Sheoran (30)
Worcester, England | November 2025University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)At 30, Vijay Kumar Sheoran was not a wide-eyed undergraduate. He was an older student at UWE Bristol, managing coursework alongside the logistics of housing, travel, work and routines that are beyond the campus borders. He appeared to be in transition, preparing for what would come after graduation.In November 2025, he was stabbed during an altercation in Worcester. A suspect was arrested; the case was treated as homicide. His death highlighted a grey reality international students quickly encounter: universities may be safe, but student life is rarely confined to them. Risk often appears in the in-between spaces—streets, shared housing, late evenings—where institutional protection fades and everyday unpredictability takes over.
Vaishnav Krishnakumar (18)
Dubai, UAE | October 2025Middlesex University DubaiVaishnav Krishnakumar had barely begun his life abroad. At the age of 18, he was weeks into a BBA course in Marketing at Middlesex University Dubai. He was navigating first lectures, new friendships, and the small freedoms that come with living away from home. In October 2025, during Diwali celebrations, Vaishnav suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and passed away. This was a brutally random medical emergency. But for families, even natural death abroad carries an extra burden apart from sorrow: Hospitals, paperwork, consular coordination, and the long, quiet process of bringing a child home across borders.
Chandrashekar Pole (28)
Texas, United States | October 2025University of North Texas, DentonChandrashekar Pole was pursuing a Master’s in Data Analytics at the University of North Texas, an obvious choice in our tech-driven era. To manage tuition, rent, and loan repayments, he worked night shifts at a gas station.In October 2025, he was shot dead while on duty. A suspect was later arrested. But his death exposed an ugly reality which any study-abroad narrative hardly acknowledges. Financial pressure routinely pushes students into long hours and high-risk environments.
Devesh Bapat (23)
Found in Germany | March 2025Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), NetherlandsDevesh Bapat was studying physics at Eindhoven University of Technology, immersed in a demanding STEM programme where progress is incremental and discipline is everything. In early March 2025, he went missing. After weeks of search, his body was found in Germany. Authorities said there were no immediate signs of foul play, but clarity was elusive. In cases like this, death abroad leaves families not just grieving, but suspended. They are caught between closure and the ache of unanswered questions.
Lessons these deaths left behind in 2025
Taken together, these stories are not an argument against studying abroad. They are a reminder of what that journey truly means. Beyond aspiration and access lies exposure—financial, physical, emotional. Campuses do not exist in isolation from cities. Degrees do not shield students from night shifts, medical emergencies, or violence. Distance, when things go wrong, multiplies grief.The promise of studying abroad has not vanished. But in 2025, it came with a clearer, harsher footnote—one that families can no longer afford to ignore.
