New Delhi, May 13, 2007
Ashok Mehta
Keanan Mehra, 21, a resident of Norwalk City ( near
Los Angeles) was found dead in a pool of blood with a kitchen
knife stuck in his neck and blunt head injuries, inside his rented
home at Hudson Lines, near the Delhi University north campus,
where he got admission in Master degree prog. in Philosophy.
About six weeks back he moved here after staying
for a while with his aunt Chetna Kapoor, who lives in Vaishali,
Ghaziabad. Keanan Mehra's father is the editor of Asian magazine
in the US and expected to arrive in the city any time.
Keanan Mehra's murder has become a mystery that
no fingerprints have been found. All windows were shut, and the
only entrance to the flat was bolted from inside. According to
the police: It unlikely that some assailants entered the house
and then escaped. The only window, which lay open, did not have
any ledge or rainwater pipe close to it, which the killer or killers
may have used to escape. The terrace on the third floor of the
building could be reached through Mehra's apartment, but its door
was also locked from inside.
Harjeet Singh, owner of the building, who lives
in the first floor said:
- 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.
- We 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.
Keanan Mehra's aunt, Chetna Kapoor has told the
police:
- Keanan did not have any signs of depression. He came to pursue
a master's course in philosophy
- He stayed with us for few weeks before moving into his rented
apartment on April 8.
- His parents were in the city till April 12, helping him to
settle down.
- He had gone to attend a wedding at Haldwani in Uttaranchal
with us and looked very happy.
The police told media today:
- We assumed that he had stabbed himself to death and died
of the stab injury in his neck. We found broken knife with the
top half stuck in his neck and the remaining part lying next
to his body. It is possible that the knife broke due to the
impact or he tried to pull the knife out and it broke,
- Let we say, if he was killed by someone- he was strong young
man and could not overpowered by just one person and at least
2-3 people had to be involved. There were no signs of any struggle
inside the apartment and nothing was stolen.
- There was so much blood at the spot and not a single footmark
was found.
- We are now investigating the motive. We could not find any
suicide note. After the postmortem report, things will be more
clear.
