Mumbai serial blasts: PM’s chosen one left in the lurch

Dinesh Majhi, an employee at a wafer-making stall, lost his right leg at the Opera House bomb blast on Wednesday evening.
Dinesh, who is 13 years old as per records at Saifee hospital, still looks shell-shocked and can barely talk.

His uncle, Harikishore Dev, who distributes bread to bakeries, drops by during visiting hours between 5pm and 7pm. The rest of the day, the boy sits alone in his room.

However, on Thursday evening, Dinesh had a special visitor — prime minister Manmohan Singh. When asked if he spoke to the PM, he said, “He did not speak to me, nor did I.” In the photograph with the PM, the boy appears to be looking away.

His employer, Dattaguru Narvekar claims that Dinesh is 20 years old and insisted that he be present while the boy is spoken to.

“I was cleaning spoons when the blast took place. I do not remember anything after that,” said Dinesh, who arrived in the city a month ago from a village called Baragobind in Bihar.

Hospital authorities are scrambling to find someone who can take responsibility for the boy. Dr Shabina Khan, who handles press relations in the hospital, said, “I spoke to his mother but she has been missing since morning. We wanted to hand over the cheque given by the government to her.”

Harikishore, on the other hand, claim that Dinesh’s mother is in Bihar and he advised her not to come. “My leg is hurting a lot. I want my mother here,” said Dinesh.