Jharkhand student found shot dead on US campus

A student from Jharkhand doing research in an engineering college in the US was found shot dead...

A student from Jharkhand doing research in an engineering college in the US was found shot dead at an apartment complex in the second incident of campus gun violence in five weeks where Indian students have become victims.

The body of Abhijeet Mahato (29), who was doing his PhD on computational mechanics at the Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering in Durham in North Carolina, was found in the 1600 Block of Anderson Street by his friends and colleagues on Friday, student’s grandfather and former Jharkhand MLA Dhananjoy Mahato said on Sunday.

The crime was noticed at about 11:30 pm on Friday (local time). Durham police were quoted as having said they did not yet have a motive for the shooting by unidentified gunmen. Mahato said he would ask the Government to make arrangements for bringing the body here after post-mortem is completed on Monday.

Abhijeet told his parents Sitaram and Aarti Mahato only last Wednesday that he had been very busy as the examination was round-the-corner. A pall of gloom descended on Abhijeet’s home at Gamariah and relatives and friends streamed in as soon as the news of the tragedy came in. Abhijeet was a meritorious student who studied in Hindu School and did his Bachelor in Engineering (BE) from Jadavpur University from Kolkata. An MTech from IIT Kanpur, he was in his second year of studies in the US.

Two Indian doctoral students hailing from Andhra Pradesh were found shot dead in Louisiana State University campus at Baton Rouge on December 13. Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam were found shot dead in Allam’s apartment.

Duke University officials were quoted as saying that Mahato, originally from Tatangar, was in his second year for an engineering doctorate degree focused on computational mechanics. Larry Moneta, Duke’s vice-president for student affairs, said the university had begun reaching out to Mahato’s friends and to his family in India, as well as to Indian and other international students on campus. “It is offering counselling services and has begun considering appropriate ways of commemorating Mahato’s life.”

“This is a tragic circumstance, and we are doing everything possible to assist those who may be affected by it,” Moneta was quoted on the university website.

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At a meeting on Sunday, Abhijeet’s adviser, engineering professor Tod Laursen met with his lab team to talk about Abhijeet, whom he described as intellectually curious, kind and outgoing.

“He made friends very easily and always had a smile on his face,” Laursen said. “Our research team was particularly close to Abhijeet. He was very well read in both poetry and literature, and enjoyed conversation with others about what they were reading.”

Before coming to Duke, Abhijeet worked for two years for the GE Global Research Center in Bangalore, where he focused on finite element analysis, a computer-simulation technique used in engineering. The experience prepared him well for his graduate work, according to Laursen.