Student, 21, falls to his death from tower block 'in confused state'
A student fell to his death from a tower block just minutes after attacking his girlfriend in a confused state, an inquest has heard.
Nikhil Manglani, 21, is thought to have suffered an 'acute behavioural disturbance' after becoming unwell at his 31st-floor flat in Canary Wharf, East London.
Emergency services raced to the tower block in the early hours of October 20 last year, after his girlfriend fled to the concierge desk with "blood covering her face and a lump on her forehead".
Police officers attended the flat, discovering the balcony door open and his body on the ground below.
An inquest at Poplar Coroner's Court has now heard that Nikhil's behaviour was "totally out of character", and that his girlfriend initially assumed he had consumed drugs and alcohol.
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However, a toxicology report found that the Master's student was sober, and his family confirmed he had no prior history of mental health issues.
Senior Coroner Mary Hassell came to an open verdict after no exact cause could be determined for his "erratic" behaviour.
Nikhil Manglani, 21, is thought to have suffered an 'acute behavioural disturbance' after becoming unwell at his 31st-floor flat (Finn Byrne/MyLondon)The inquest heard that Nikhil had recently completed his dissertation and had been actively applying for jobs while living in London, reports My London.
He had never been aggressive prior to his death, and had been studying a Master's degree in the capital after moving from Hong Kong.
His girlfriend had been staying with him for a few weeks while waiting for her new flat to be ready, and the two had spent a "very normal" day together on October 19, going for lunch together.
After heading to bed, his girlfriend woke up during the early hours to discover that the TV was playing and Nikhil was behaving oddly.
She told the court he kept standing up, removing his clothing and dropping items such as his Playstation.
While she added that his behaviour was "nothing dangerous, nothing scary, just weird", she became concerned after he repeatedly said he wanted to "get rid of this feeling".
As a precaution, she hid any sharp objects such as knives and scissors in her clothes, but remained at his side trying to comfort him and encouraging him to watch television.
After she placed his phone on charge, his "out of character" behaviour became more erratic and he started to scream while asking her for his mobile.
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At this point, she claimed he jumped on her and tried to strangle her. She then managed to flee to the bathroom and call a friend, the court heard.
Under the impression that Nikhil had come to his senses, she later reopened the door and was again allegedly assaulted.
She told the inquest: "I thought he'd realised what he did so I opened the door and he just jumped on me and is trying to strangle me, my friend on the phone could hear me screaming so she called the police."
The girlfriend said that during this attack, she was shouting "it's me, it's me" while describing his behaviour as "totally out of character".
She managed to escape to the building's reception to seek assistance.
Staff working at the concierge desk received a number of emails at 4.43am from neighbours concerning Nikhil's flat, with reports of "shouting and commotion".
Police cordoning off the area in October last year (MyLondon)Shortly afterwards, his girlfriend arrived at the lower floor with "blood streaming down her face" and reported that her boyfriend had hit her.
Police were contacted and arrived at 4.59am with Nikhil's girlfriend telling them she had been assaulted, that she had hidden the knives in the flat and that her boyfriend was "acting very erratically and had taken a lot of drugs".
Officers found the flat empty with the balcony door open. Nikhil's body was discovered with "catastrophic injuries" on the ground floor and he was pronounced dead by paramedics at 5.30am.
However, despite his girlfriend's belief that he was under the influence of substances, a toxicology report found no evidence of drug abuse was detected. A post-mortem report gave his official cause of death as multiple injuries and blunt force trauma.
His dad, Lal Manglani, confirmed that Nikhil had no history of mental health issues.
He said the family were "convinced" that he was not suffering from depression at the time of his death.
Referred to as a "close-knit family", Nikhil had spoken to his parents shortly before his death and had spent the summer travelling with them, and had given regular updates on his job interviews and studies.
Giving her conclusion, Senior Coroner Mary Hassell said that Nikhil was "on his own at the time" of the fall.
She told the court: "When I heard the circumstances of Nikhil's death, given his behaviour immediately before leaving the balcony I confessed I had expected the analysis to reveal drugs in his system.
“I thought that he might have taken cocaine or some other stimulant and I was very surprised when the toxicological analysis was negative for drugs and I agree that the features of this story don't fit together very well.
"There are some elements of this [on] which I can make a decision - I think it is highly, highly unlikely that anyone pushed Nikhil, he was on his own at the time.
"He was acting in a way that was very out of character, he was not suicidal and yet he left the balcony and apparently did so of his own volition. All the evidence points to him being alone at the time, if he had drugs in his system that would have provided the explanation.
"In fact some of the description with his girlfriend fitted with acute behavioural disturbance - often very hot, that is often brought about following the taking of drugs.
"It all pointed towards that, a person with acute behavioural disturbance can act in a way that's very uncharacteristic and I can believe they'd leave the 31st floor without any intention of taking their life.
"In the circumstances, the only appropriate conclusion for me to reach is to make an open verdict. It has concluded that there is insufficient evidence for me to say this was drug-related or an accident."
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