One student was depressed over not being selected for a scholarship

Ravi Shankar, one of the three final year students of MA Korean Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University killed in an accident around 1-30 a.m. on Friday, was a topper of his batch and, according to his friends in the university, was depressed at not having been selected for a higher studies scholarship.

“Ravi Shankar was a bright student and so was hoping that his professors will select him for scholarship. Instead, two of his other classmates were selected for it. This made him extremely upset and he decided to drink with friends last night. Afterwards they went out on their bike to drive around the campus. Whatever happened is very unfortunate as Shankar was driving in a state of depression mixed with alcohol and it proved to be a deadly mix,” said a JNU student close to the victims.

Bright students

Another student, who knew the victims closely, said Ravi Shankar, Ravi Kumar and Santosh were all bright students and had bagged projects in translation work in the past. “They had earned handsome amount of money through some translation projects in the past and with that they had purchased vehicles for themselves. The bike that Shankar was riding was purchased through his own earnings,” said his friend Sujit.

Talking to The Hindu over phone, Nawal Kishore -- maternal uncle of Ravi Kumar -- said: “We got a call from the university late on Thursday night informing that Ravi and his friends have met with an accident and are in a serious condition. Since we were in Bihar and could not arrive immediately, I asked my son who is studying engineering there to go to the hospital to see Ravi. I and Ravi’s father took the next flight to Delhi. Meanwhile, my son kept telling me that Ravi is fine and is just admitted in ICU, it was only when we reached Delhi that we got to know he is no more.”

“Ravi was a very bright student and had always wanted to get admission in JNU. He worked hard to clear the entrance examination and was very happy when he got through finally. His course was about to get over and he was hopeful of getting a good job,” said Mr. Kishore.