Puri, an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics who had won several laurels for his work on the subject, had gone to Bangalore to attend an international seminar on 'Operational Research'.
"We just got to know about the incident. We are shocked," his son Saurabh Puri told PTI over phone from his residence in Mount Kailash area where the whole family had sequestered themselves since the news spread.
The 64-year-old former IIT faculty member's colleague and IIT Registrar Rajinder Singh also expressed the same feelings.
Puri, who specialises in operational research, had won many awards for his work, he said. "It's really shocking," he added.