It’s been more than 24 hours since his brother Rohit, 11, was killed in the stampede at Elphinstone Road railway station , but Akash Parab continues to ask for him.
Akash, 18, recuperating from a leg fracture suffered in the stampede, is yet to be told that Rohit was killed, and that his last rites were performed on Saturday. Akash, a second-year student at a Bhandup college, and Rohit, a Class VIII student at a Vikhroli school, had taken a train from Vikhroli to buy five kg of flowers for their florist father. They had alighted at Elphinstone Road station and were proceeding to the flower market nearby when all hell broke loose on the foot overbridge.
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Rohit, the youngest victim, was declared brought dead at KEM Hospital. Doctors said he had died of asphyxiation under a pile of commuters. Akash, his heartbroken father Ankush says, asks every hour or so about his brother. “Rohit
His parents have somehow managed to keep their composure in his presence. “We can't break down in front of him,” Ankush said. Anticipating a rush on Dussehra, he stayed back at their shop and sent his sons to get more flowers “I send them to the market only during the festive season. How I wish I hadn’t.”