HYDERABAD: A young final year student of a private medical university was found dead under mysterious circumstances within the limits of the Hatri police station on Wednesday.

Pahlaj, son of Sawai Mal, a resident of Umerkot, was found dead in a closed room of his classmate, Vijay.

According to Lal Chand, a cousin of the deceased, Pahlaj had left his house located in the New Hyderabad City area for the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) on Tuesday morning. Before leaving for the hospital at about 9.15am, Pahlaj had told his first cousin, Chohan, that he would be returning by 4pm after dealing with his internship matter.

When he did not return by 5pm, Chohan tried to reach him by phone but his calls remained unattended. He informed Dr Jhaman, another cousin of Pahlaj, about his disappearance. Jhaman tried to ascertain the location of his mobile phone and it was traced near Shoukat Khowaja poultry farm, situated close to the private medical university where Pahlaj studied.

Some private hostels are available in that area as the university administration does not have hostels for male students. Pahlaj’s family found the body lying in Vijay’s hostel room.

According to Lal Chand, Vijay had two rooms in that hostel and Pahlaj had entered one of them through its rear side window, which was otherwise locked.

Dr Jhaman said that Pahlaj’s last rites were performed after a post-mortem examination. The family has not yet lodged an FIR of the incident but would do so soon, he added.

Pahlaj’s father is a businessman and deals in grain.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2022