Abhinav Sharma* and Mukesh Bhagel had been classmates at JPM Senior Secondary School for the Blind in the Capital. Both joined Hans Raj College two years ago Sharma enrolled in BA History (Hons),Bhagel took up BA Hindi (Hons). They usually went to the college hostel mess together. Mukesh had had breakfast without him on Tuesday morning,so Abhinav decided to take him along for dinner. Mukeshs single room (number 143) on the first floor was not locked,and Abhinav felt his wallet lying on the bed. Mukesh was not in the bathroom either. He never left the room unlocked. Abhinav went to the ground floor and mentioned this to a friend,who directed him to the watchman at the gate. The watchman accompanied Abhinav back to Mukeshs room,and switched the light on. Mukesh was there all the time,the watchman found,even while Abhinav was searching for him. Hanging from the fan,by a noose made from the plastic rope he used as the clothesline,was Mukesh. On Wednesday,Abhinav was still in a shock after recounting the story all night to the police. It turns out few in the hostel knew Mukesh well. He was a very withdrawn person we saw him only at the mess. We knew him as a very good student. He had his own friend circle, said Anis Khan*,a fellow hostel resident. He had,however,retained his friends from school,even if they were attending a different college. He was a year senior to me. We used to play football together both of us played in the midfield. We had represented our school at the national level, said Umesh Kumar Verma,who is in his first year of History (Hons) at Ramjas College. Apart from being a good student both in school and college,he was also a good singer. He earned a four-year diploma in music from an institute in Delhi while in school, Umesh added. Hostel residents recalled that the otherwise taciturn student would often be on the phone for hours. Mukesh,who came from Agra,did most of his schooling at institutes for the blind in Delhi. Umesh said after scoring well in the first year,Mukesh had told him he wanted to be a college lecturer. On Tuesday,college students were agitated about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death and the corresponding reports in the media. We still believe it was a suicide and we should wait for the postmortem report before deciding otherwise. After all,Mukesh was not so weak physically and it would have been difficult to overpower him, Anas Hashmi,president of the Hans Raj hostel union,said. The college was closed on Wednesday in the memory of its student. Condolence meetings were held at the college and the hostel. (*Names changed to protect privacy)
