Police release cause of death of 22-year-old student from India
Last week's death of a 22-year-old St. Thomas University student from India has been ruled a drowning.
RCMP Const. Hans Ouellette said the cause of death was determined after an autopsy. He said police do not suspect "criminality" in the case.
Aranyam Bora was cliff jumping at the Mactaquac Headpond on Wednesday when he slipped below the surface of the water and disappeared. His body was found by RCMP divers on Thursday morning.
Bora was a fourth-year St. Thomas University student, majoring in political science and international relations. He was from India and came to New Brunswick to study.
He was a competitive bodybuilder and martial artist and was in incredible physical condition, said his girlfriend, Milly Squires, a McAdam native and third-year St. Thomas University student.
Squires is still baffled by the details. She said her athletic boyfriend knew how to swim. In August, the pair visited a waterfall near Welsford, where they spent some time in the pool of water. She said she never would have dreamed he could have drowned.
"He was adventurous and he was, at times, a little reckless, yes, but he wasn't stupid," Squires said Wednesday afternoon. "I don't think he would have gone if he didn't believe he could swim."
Another friend, Sayan Chatterjee, also believes Bora could swim.
Chatterjee, who was designated by Bora's family members to speak for them, said he saw a picture of Bora. swimming but had never witnessed it in person.
Chatterjee said his former dorm mate was also an avid fitness buff, "always at the gym lifting weights." He said Bora will be missed by a lot of people.
Neither Chatterjee nor Squires knew whether Bora jumped feet first or dove head first from the cliffs at the headpond.
Squires said the thought that Bora, who often went by Ary, was conscious for a time before slipping under the water "keeps me up at night."
"Knowing that it was drowning and knowing that he did surface and he was flailing, it haunts me every night thinking that he could have been terrified or he would have been scared. Because Ary didn't get scared of anything. "
