British police express condolences to family of Indian PhD student killed in London

Police said Kochhar was pursuing a PhD in behavioral research at the London School of Economics.

London:

The Metropolitan Police on Tuesday formally named former NITI Aayog employee Cheistha Kochhar as the 33-year-old woman who died in a road collision in north London while cycling home from the London School of Economics (LSE) .

Police said no arrests had been made a week after the incident.

Police said Kochhar, who is studying for a PhD in behavioral studies at the London School of Economics, was involved in a collision with a rubbish truck near the junction of Clerkenwell Road and Farringdon Road on the evening of March 19. Died after the collision.

Police said an investigation into the circumstances of the collision is ongoing and they continue to appeal for witnesses and any road users with dashcam footage of the scene to come forward.

The Metropolitan Police said: “Chesta was riding his bicycle when he collided with a rubbish truck. The truck was parked at the scene and the driver is assisting police with their inquiries. “No arrests have been made and inquiries into the circumstances are continuing. “

Police also issued a statement on behalf of Chesta Kochhar’s family, praising her “profound intelligence” and “vivacious demeanor” that had won her many friends.

“She always gave anyone a hug and lived by the principle that it was more important to be the kindest person in the room than to be the smartest person in the room. In a very short period of time, she accomplished just that.” She touched tens of thousands of lives in profoundly meaningful ways across this planet, and the magnitude of this loss is difficult to comprehend,” the family’s eulogy read.

Cheistha was born in Bareilly in 1990 and graduated from high school from the Convent of Jesus and Mary, New Delhi. After graduating from Delhi University in 2008 with a BA in Economics and Mathematics, she went on to complete a PGP in Arts as an India Young Fellow at Ashoka University and then completed a postgraduate program in International Development and Policy (MAIDP) at the University of Chicago ).

“She has also launched several start-ups, first as an undergraduate by distributing excess food from university canteens to the needy and later creating opportunities for the unemployed and poor sections of Delhi society. She has also collaborated with McKinsey and the University on her Working in Chicago and finally at India’s NITI Aayog (formerly the Planning Commission), where she founded India’s National Behavioral Insights Unit as a senior advisor. All this before she was 32.”

“Despite her experience as a practitioner and executive, she has the heart of an academician, having worked and collaborated with Nobel laureates, eventually arriving in London as a PhD scholar at the London School of Economics. Although this was only her After pursuing her PhD at an early stage, she will definitely work on researching and improving cooperation between various pro-social organizations to address the great challenges faced by countries in the Global South. She is an ardent patriot and wants to bring all her expertise to Bring it back to India to change people’s lives,” it concluded.

Earlier, former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant took to social media to praise Kochhar, who moved to London from Gurgaon in September last year to pursue his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Kant said: “Cheistha Kochhar worked with me on #LIFE [Lifestyle for the Environment] NITI Aayog Scheme. She worked in the #Nudge department and went to the London School of Economics to study for a PhD in behavioral sciences. Died in a horrific traffic accident while cycling in London. She is smart, smart, brave and always full of energy. Left too early. rest in peace. Kochhar worked as a senior consultant in India’s national behavioral insights unit for nearly two years until April last year, before moving to London with her software engineer husband Prashant Gautam.

Her father, Lieutenant General Dr SP Kochhar, said: “I am still in London trying to collect the body of my daughter Cheistha Kochhar, who was run over by a lorry while riding back from the London School of Economics (LSE) on March 19. She is pursuing her PhD at the London School of Economics,” the Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in an emotional post on LinkedIn.

“This has devastated us and a large group of her friends,” he said, including a link to an online memorial page created in her memory.

The memorial page begins with a quote from Cheistha, which reads: “The things we create should outlast the things we do,” followed by several touching tributes posted by friends and family.

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