The young software professional had gone with his friends to the hotel to take part in the midnight revelry.

Minutes after the New Year rang in, part of the stage built over the swimming pool collapsed owing to excess weight.

“He was the first to fall in,” said Kalyana Sundaram, retired IAS officer and Sumit’s guardian in Chennai. Several others fell on top of him. When he was finally fished out, he was unconscious and bleeding.

“His friends tried to revive him. They rushed him to the Government Hospital, but he died by then,” said NR Sabapathy, Sumit’s colleague in IT company Slash Support.

According to the postmortem report, a sharp piece of metal or wood from the makeshift dais had pierced his heart. “He came to Chennai about seven months ago,” said Kalayana Sundaram, a family friend of many years. The offer was good, but he was initially reluctant to take up the job as it would mean leaving his mother alone behind in Lucknow. His father had passed away two years ago and his brother and sister had settled abroad. “But his mother, Archana, encouraged him to go ahead,” Sundaram said.

According to Sumit’s friends, when Archana arrived in Chennai on the evening of January 1 for his funeral, the Savera Hotel had even refused to provide her a room. She had to find accommodation in another hotel nearby and take part in her son’s funeral the next day.

Negotiations are reportedly on with the Savera Hotel management for a “decent compensation”.