Raju-the 16-year-who has been accused of murdering grandmother Sarla Patel on Friday-scored a high 82% in his Class X SSC board exam, which he had appeared for in March this year. Though he was enrolled in T P Bhatia Junior College of Science in Kandivli, faculty members said he had been playing truant and hadn't attended a single FYJC lecture since September 2. But his school teachers and principal remember him as a bright, well-mannered and popular boy who had a good career ahead of him.
College principal Sangeeta Srivastav said: "We did not get to know him well as FYJC classes began only on August 16. He attended only two weeks of lectures." The last time the college authorities saw him was on September 9 when he "turned up" to collect his identity-card. Seven days later, Raju allegedly killed his grandmother with the help of his friend.
"When we called up his residence recently to alert his parents of his continued absence in class, his mother said that his grandmother had passed away and he wouldn't be attending college for a few days," Srivastav added.
Raju had secured a seat under the Gujarati minority quota, and was studying bifocal science in mechanical maintenance. Incidentally, the Kandivli college is a training ground for students preparing for the IIT-JEE exams. In the few days that he attended lectures, teachers got the impression that he was mischievous if not disruptive. "I remember asking him to sit on the front bench to stop him from disturbing the rest of the class," said a professor.
The co-accused in the case, Sachin, is Raju's childhood friend; the duo had studied at Infant Jesus School in Malad. While Sachin was an "average performer"-he scored a 68% in his board exam, school teachers said Raju always participated in quizzes and science exhibitions. In a graduating class of 190 students, he stood out to catch even the school principal Cecila D'Souza's attention.
"I can't believe these boys committed such a heinous crime. They were from good backgrounds. They were never short of money. I find it hard to co-relate the murder with the boys who studied with me," said D'Souza. Raju and Sachin, said teachers, were not "best friends". "Sachin was mischievous in class, but both boys were not capable of harming anyone for money," said D'Souza, adding that she'd like to meet them to figure out what went wrong.
SOURS :- TOI
