Before he returned to the hostel on Wednesday, Chander Shekhar Sharma’s elder brother had asked him to cancel his plan to visit the Signature Bridge with his hostel roommate Satyavijay Shankaram.
At 8.30 a.m. on Friday, the 20-year-old second-year MBBS student at Hindu Rao Hospital updated his WhatsApp display photo — posing with Satyavijay’s sports bike on the Signature Bridge. Ten minutes later, Satyavijay rammed a railing on the recently inaugurated bridge and both plunged 30 feet below. They were declared brought dead at Sushruta Trauma Centre here.
While Satyavijay belonged to Bihar, Chander’s family lives in south Delhi’s Khanpur.
‘Motorcycle enthusiast’
A motorcycle enthusiast, Satyavijay, a junior doctor at Hindu Rao Hospital, had purchased the sports bike recently. A friend said the roommates went for joyrides on the bike frequently.
Chander’s father Shiv Narayan Sharma, a municipal school teacher, said, “He left for the hostel on Wednesday morning after visiting us at home. Before leaving, he discussed with his elder brother his plan to visit Signature Bridge with Satyavijay. However, his elder brother told him not to go. Chander did not know how to ride a bike.”
Mr. Sharma added, “Chander was brilliant in studies and sports. We were very happy when he got admitted to MBBS. We were all looking forward to having a doctor in the family. I shifted to Delhi from Bihar long back to give my children a better future. One of Chander’s brothers is pursuing MSc from IIT-Gandhinagar and another one is preparing for government services.”
Many staff members and students of Hindu Rao Hospital reached Sushruta Trauma Centre after they heard about the incident. A friend who was at the hospital claimed Satyavijay would often invite friends for joyrides on his motorcycle.
‘WhatsApp group’
“Satyavijay had planned an outing on Thursday evening and even put details in a common WhatsApp group but the plan fizzled out. We were clueless about the Friday morning plan,” said another friend.
