‘I am dead inside’: At UP home of student killed in Ahmedabad road rage
On November 10, Priyanshu, 23, a second-year MBA student at Ahmedabad’s premier Mudra Institute of Communications, was stabbed to death in an alleged case of road rage.
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Priyanshu Jain (above); a prayer meet in Meerut. (Express Photo)The Diwali buntings are still in place, so are the rangoli and a string of fairy lights on the door — reminders from exactly two weeks ago, when Priyanshu Jain had celebrated the festival with his family. The two-storeyed house in Meerut’s Tirupati Garden colony now stands forlorn, a lone light inside one of its rooms where the family has assembled after a prayer meeting for Priyanshu.
On November 10, Priyanshu, 23, a second-year MBA student at Ahmedabad’s premier Mudra Institute of Communications, was stabbed to death in an alleged case of road rage. Two days later, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch arrested a police constable, Virendrasinh Padheriya, in the case.
According to the FIR filed at the Bopal police station in Ahmedabad by Priyanshu’s batchmate Prithviraj Parakshitdas Mahapatra, 28, the two had gone to a cafe and a bakery after stopping at a tailoring shop at 7.45 pm.
On their way back to their college campus, around 10.30 pm, at a turning on the road, a car at “full speed” came “dangerously” close to them and Priyanshu, who was riding pillion on Prithviraj’s bike, shouted at the car driver. The man then turned around, chased their bike down and, following a verbal exchange, stabbed Priyanshu. He was taken to Saraswati Hospital and from there to Zydus Hospital in Ahmedabad, where he was declared dead.
Briefly stepping out of the house to see a visitor off, Priyanshu’s father, Pankaj Jain, 57, a chartered accountant, manages to say, “We have lost everything, there is nothing left. I am in no condition to talk. I am dead inside.”
Priyanshu’s mother Reenu Jain breaks down, “Usne mere pyare bacche ko maar diya (He killed my dear son). If he was so angry, he could have hit him with a stick… why stab him? I should have kept my son with me.”
Priyanshu’s sister Geetika Jain, 27, says Priyanshu last called her around 8.30 pm, a couple of hours before he was attacked. “He asked for money to buy airpods and told me he has a job interview (with a global IT firm) on November 24. He had stepped out of campus with his friend to get a suit stitched for the interview. The next call I got was from Priyanshu’s friend, who said they were taking him to hospital as he was attacked by someone. I thought it would be a minor accident, I didn’t know he would die,” she says.
Neighbours of the Jains talk fondly of the “brilliant and kind boy” who left for Delhi after his Class 12 to do his Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Indraprastha University.
“When Priyanshu got into MICA, we were all very happy for him. In just about five months, the course would have been over and he would have landed a job,” says Vaibhav Kapoor, 35, a neighbour.
His friends are in shock. “As kids, we used to fight over football. It feels like yesterday,” says Sanjana, a childhood friend. “We would play in the park and inside the colony. Even after he grew up, he was a die-hard football lover and a big-time Messi fan. Ask him anything about Messi, and he would know the answer.”
Two days before his death, Priyanshu had texted another childhood friend, Avni Dhawan, in the Netherlands. “He told my daughter he had applied to several firms and had an interview coming up. He was very excited,” says Sunil Dhawan, Avni’s father.
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