Telangana: College dreams crash

Hyderabad: One of the last things that Ramaraju Sandesh, the Amity University student who was shot dead in Noida on Saturday evening, did was to update his status on Whatsapp. “Weekend,” he had posted at 3.26 pm. He was shot dead at 3.30 pm.

Sandesh, the younger son of R. Shyamsunder Rao, manager at the Cooperative Bank at Devarakonda in Nalg-onda, and Rupa, had persuaded his parents to send him to Amity University, though they wanted him to study in Hyderabad as his brother was in the US. He was doing BSc in marine science. His elder brother R. Santosh is in the US pursuing masters. Sandesh completed Intermediate from Chaitanya Junior College in Hyderabad.

“His parents initially did not accept his idea. But he persuaded them and got details about Amity University from the Internet,” said Dr Karuna, Sandesh’s cousin. Sandesh’s aim was to do a Ph.D in marine sciences and become a scientist. His parents were inconsolable when his body reached Hyderabad. 

Sandesh had a big circle of friends at Amity University. He never got into arguments with anyone. He shared his room with two other students from Nellore, Mathur and Nadeem.

Rajeev, one of Sandesh’s seniors. said Sandesh was child-like. Rajeev, who recently lost his father, was very close to Sandesh. “He cried when news about my father’s death came. He consoled me. I was waiting to meet him after returning,” said Rajeev, who came all the way from Guntur. Sandesh’s body was cremated on Monday.