Upon hearing the news of the blast, Ansari’s father Imtiaz Ansari had come to Delhi with his wife Ummat Begum. On Sunday, they headed back to Sonadi with their son’s body.

“My parents are still in shock. They can’t believe that their eldest son is gone, it will take some time for them to accept this fact,” said Hussein.

As the news spread, Ansari’s friends and professors assembled at AIIMS. “He was a good student, keen to learn and grow. Despite coming from a small town, he adjusted well to life in Delhi and would have surely gone on to do well,” said his IT professor Raman Nath.

Ansari’s friends described him as popular and kind. “It has just been three months since college started, but he was already one of the most popular juniors. He was always ready to lend a helping hand and had managed to integrate himself to college life,” said Sujit Kumar, one of the senior students of the college.