“We will never return to Pune,” said a grief-stricken Jayprakash, father Aditya Mehta (23), the 11th fatality of last Saturday’s bomb blast at German Bakery. The badly-injured Aditya, who was battling for life at Jehangir Hospital, succumbed to his injuries early on Wednesday.
He is survived by his father, mother, brother and sister.
Jayprakash, who had somehow managed to hold himself together after Aditya’s death, collapsed when his body was put into an ambulance. “We will go to his room, collect his memories and never come back,” said Jayprakash, a sharebroker in Delhi.
Aditya’s mother was in shock and could not go from Jehangir Hospital to Sassoon Hospital, where the post-mortem was conducted.
Several of Aditya’s friends gathered at Jehangir and Sassoon. Mangesh Mukhedkar, a family friend, said Aditya was very popular and that at least 50 of his friends were at the hospital at any given time in case the Mehtas required any help.
A resident of Rohini in New Delhi, Aditya came to Pune four years ago to study electronics engineering at Bharti Vidyapeeth.
Aditya’s friends struggled to deal with his death, many of them refusing to believe that he was no more. “He was such a lively person,” said a friend.
{{/usCountry}}Aditya’s friends struggled to deal with his death, many of them refusing to believe that he was no more. “He was such a lively person,” said a friend.
{{/usCountry}}Mukhedkar said Aditya used to play the guitar and had a passion for music, which was what made him so popular.
Aditya, who stayed at Dhankawdi in Pune, just a kilometre from his college, was a regular at German Bakery. On Saturday, Aditya was there with a friend when the bomb went off.