Parents had told the Pinjari siblings to come out of the water on video call
Soon after, the Pinjari family went to sleep, thinking all was well with Jishan and Jia. Little did they imagine the horrors that lay in wait for them
Tuesday was like any other day for the Pinjari family from Amalner in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. At around 8.30 pm, the family was having dinner while watching news updates on the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. As the clock struck 10.30 pm, Shamim Pinjari anxiously waited for her son, Jishan Pinjari - studying in the first year of MBBS at Novgorod State University, Russia, along with his cousin sister, Jia Pinjari – to call. As time passed, Shamim grew uneasy thinking of what might have delayed Jishan’s call. Finally at about 11.10 pm, Shamim’s mobile phone rang; it was a video call from Jishan. As they connected, Shamim could see Jishan along with Jia and some other friends frolicking in what looked like a river.
Shamim’s husband and Jishan’s father, Ashpak Pinjari, told Hindustan Times, “Jishan was showing us how his sister had entered the water and was enjoying…”
However, Shamim wasn’t happy with what she saw on the video call and asked the children to immediately come out of the water while on call, Ashpak said.
“On the other side, Jishan was assuring us that they were all safe and there was no need to worry. But Shamim insisted that all of them come out of the water immediately and head back to their hostel. Accordingly, Jishan disconnected the call and dropped a message saying that they would soon reach their hostel,” Ashpak said.
Soon after, the Pinjari family went to sleep, thinking all was well with Jishan and Jia. Little did they imagine the horrors that lay in wait for them. At around 2 am, they received a call from the district administration informing them that four students from Maharashtra, India, studying at the Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University in Veliky Novgorod had drowned in the Volkhov river while out for a walk along the river Tuesday evening. Local emergency services had recovered two bodies so far and were searching for the remaining two bodies. Whereas a fifth student, also from India, had been saved and was receiving medical care.
In a state of shock ever since, the Pinjaris are struggling to come to terms with the tragedy that has befallen them. Ashpak, who is a farmer and grows turmeric on his farm located in the Dhar village of Jalgaon district, said, “We never imagined that that was our Jishan’s last call. Our family lost two young members. You cannot imagine what we are feeling right now…” It is a similar situation for Jia’s parents, Firoj and Tarannum Pinjari, who live with their son in Amalner, Jalgaon.
As for siblings Jishan and Jia, they were scholarship students and appeared twice for the NEET exam but did not get satisfactory marks. In September 2023, they approached a relative, Junaid Pinjari, who runs a medical admission consultancy firm at Chopada in Jalgaon district. Through his network, almost 140 students, including Jishan and Jia, got admission to various Russian universities. In September, Jishan and Jia confirmed their admission to the first year of MBBS at Novgorod State University. Both of them had planned to fly down to India on July 23 after completion of their examinations and their families were eagerly awaiting their return, even if for a while.
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