NRI youth found stabbed

HoneY

MaaPeya Da LaaDLa
may 13 2008

The body count continues to rise in the seeming safety of city homes. The latest victim is a 21-year-old youth whose father edits an NRI affairs magazine in the United States. Keanan Mehra was found stabbed to death in his rented accommodation at Mukherjee Nagar near North Campus on Monday. The decaying state of his corpse suggests that the youth may have been lying dead for three days, said the police.

There were stab injuries on the left side of his chest and abdomen, while his head was also wounded, probably after a fall, said the police.

Keanan had come to pursue a master's course in philosophy. He stayed with his aunt at Vaishali for a month before moving into this second-floor apartment at Hudson Line on April 8.

According to police, the victim was the son of Achal Mehra, the editor of Little India magazine — one of the largest circulated Asian publications in the United States. He was from Norwalk city.

Keanan's landlords, who live in the first floor of the building, discovered his body.

Said his landlord, Harjeet Singh: "Keanan used to greet us whenever we met and was a very well-behaved boy. When we didn't see him for four days, we knocked on his door, but did not get any response. His phone was also switched off. So, we called up his aunt, Chetna Kapoor."

Keanan's aunt asked the landlord to check on him even as she was on her way from Vaishali. "We initially insisted that she should come to the house before we break open the door. But when she requested us to check on him, we complied thinking that the boy might be unwell or hurt and need immediate medical attention," Singh said. He added that they had got a verfication done before keeping the youth as a tenant.

Singh and his wife kept knocking on the door for a long time, and finally, broke open the door."What we saw scared us so much that we ran back downstairs. We saw Mehra lying in a pool of blood on the floor and the room was stinking of rotting flesh. We quickly informed the police who took away the body and sealed the flat," he added.

Keanan's aunt has informed his parents about the incident and they are reportedly on their way to Delhi. The youth's body was taken to the nearby Hindu Rao hospital for a postmortem. Sources said a temporary student I-card of DU was recovered from the spot and no cash or valuable was reported to be missing.

The police have registered a case of murder, though they are not ruling out suicide either. "We are waiting for the postmortem report," said DCP (north west) Manish Agarwal.

The youth had completed his bachelor's course in the US, where his family stays, before coming to Delhi. "The status of his admission in DU is unclear as we have not got any documents suggesting that he had enrolled for a regular MA course. According to his aunt and landlord, he was trying for admission here," said Agarwal.
 
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