FAREWELL AMID CRY FOR JUSTICE

Calcutta Telegraph, India
April 24, 2006

A crowd looks on as the hearse with Prashant’s body heads for the
crematorium. A Telegraph picture Siliguri, April 23: The body of
Prashant Anchali, a medical student, arrived here today, three days
after his mysterious death in Armenia.

Two senior students – including one from Siliguri – of Yerevan State
University accompanied the body on its last journey. The body had
been embalmed and dressed in a spotless black suit.

Prashant died on April 20 after a fall from the sixth floor of a
building at the university. Indian embassy officials in Armenia had
said the third-year student had committed suicide.

Prashant’s family is, however, not ready to accept this. They suspect
he was murdered.

A crowd had gathered at the Anchali home soon after the coffin arrived
at 12.15 pm. An hour or so later, it was taken for cremation.

“When everything was over, the truth finally sank in and I realised
with a heavy heart that my younger brother was no more,” said a
grieving Pankaj, Prashant’s elder brother, in the evening. Family
members said a post-mortem had been conducted in Armenia. But the
report is yet to come.

The Anchalis have already written to the President, the Prime Minister
and the Lok Sabha Speaker to help them find out what exactly had
happened in Armenia.

Pankaj said the family has decided to request the university through
the embassy to investigate into the matter. “We have also planned to
go to the human rights commission for justice,” he said.

Puja Goyel, one of the two students and a resident of Siliguri, who
had accompanied the body, told The Telegraph that though she was in
class when the incident occurred, she firmly believed that Prashant
had not committed suicide. “He wasn’t that kind of person. I spoke
to him the previous evening and he was quite normal. Most probably,
it was an accident. However, the Armenian police have started an
investigation and the truth would hopefully come to light soon.”

According to Puja, except for the dean of the university, Anna
Sargsayn, all others including the non-Indian students, were very
cooperative. “The students lodged a complaint against the dean and
she has been suspended,” the fourth-year student said.

Abhishek of Patna, the other student who had accompanied the body
from Armenia, said: “Prashant was a nice and kind-hearted fellow and
also a brilliant chap. He was quite popular among the students and
also liked by the teachers. The vice-president of Armenia was present
during his farewell from the university,” he added.

Abhishek too was not ready to accept that Prashant had committed
suicide.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress