Korean’s rage kills city girl Minal Panchal in US shootout

BLACKSBURG: Minal Panchal,  who has been missing since Monday 's shooting rampage in the Virginia Tech University, has been killed in the horrific incident.

Panchal, a first year student in the University, is the second Indian to lose life in the worst school shooting rampage in the US.

"The Embassy has learnt with great sorrow that apart from the Indian American Professor G V Loganathan, a first year student Minal Panchal is also among the victims," a senior official of the Embassy said.

The house of the Mumbai girl wore a deserted look on Tuesday as her mother is in the US for the past 15 days.

According to the Panchals' neighbours in the suburban Borivili's Park View Building, Minal's mother is visiting her married elder daughter, who too stays in the US.

Minal's father, an architect, died two to three years ago.

The Panchals live on the fifth floor of the building, their home for the last 15-20 years, the neighbours said.

Minal (26), a student of architecture at Virginia Tech, has been missing since the shooting in which 33 people, including students and faculty members, were killed by a South Korean student.

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KK Parekh, her next-door neighbour, said: “I have known Minal since she was a child. Both she and her elder sister, Kavita, were loved by all in the building. Children from the building often went over to their house to ask for help in their studies.”

Flat 504 at Park View lies locked, but the Panchals’ neighbours were optimistic that Minal would be fine. “She is only missing,” said Parekh. “I am sure she will be found soon. We will soon hear from her.”

The deadliest school shooting in US history was carried out by a 23-year-old "loner" from South Korea who was studying for an English major, university and police officials said on Tuesday.   

Police identified Cho Seung-Hui, a legal US resident, as the shooter at Virginia Tech University and said he may have acted alone in killing 32 people before committing suicide on Monday.   

G V Loganathan, 51, hailing from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and an alumnus of IIT, Kanpur, was also killed in the firing while he was taking classes at the university's Civil and Environmental Engineering department.

Minal: A Tribute

Before a berserk killer's bullet found her in a classroom at Virginia Tech, Mumbai girl Minal Panchal looked forward to following her father's footsteps in the world of architecture.

The Harry Potter fan who loved cricket as well as Indian and Chinese cuisines was confirmed dead a full 24 hours after the shooting spree by South Korean Cho Seung-Hui that killed 32 people on Monday.

The body of the 26-year-old, who describes herself as a fan of dry, sarcastic humour, sketching and cricket in blog site Orkut, is likely to be handed over to her family in two to three days.

Minal's mother, who is a Mumbai-based widow, and her brother-in-law, who is based in New Jersey, are yet to take a decision on whether they will transport the body back to India.

"Well, she is the sweetest girl I have ever known. I know her from nursery. We use to share the same bench," says friend Sachin Shah.

"Minal is one of the few people whom I categorise as 'beauty with brains'. She has nice caring nature towards her friends and enjoys her life to the fullest," adds another blogger, Adi Das Girish.

Panchal had studied at the Our Lady of Remedy High School and later pursued her bachelors from the Rizvi Scool of Architecture, both in Mumbai, before she came to Virginia Tech for further studies.

She had read through the entire Harry Potter series and counted  'When Harry Met Sally', 'Matrix 1', 'The Beach', 'The Way We Are', 'Philadelphia Story' and 'Seven Years in Tibet' among her favourite movies.

A scrapbook of hers on Orkut has hundreds of condolence messages from not just her friends, classmates and acquaintances but also those who have never met or known her in the past.

"I don't know u personally... not even seen u... but I would never want some thing this happening to anyone... May ur soul rest in peace," said one.

According to one message, Panchal's body was found around 3 pm Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday.

The blogger attributed this news to Shrikar Bhave, Panchal's batchmate who was on his way to Virginia Tech from Raleigh to support Minal's family who are there already.

Neighbours at her fifth-floor apartment in Borivili West's Park View residence said Minal's mother left for the US two weeks ago while her elder sister Kavita is married and lives in the US.

"Minal's mother left to visit Kavita, who lives in New Jersey with her husband. Minal's father Hiralal, an architect, passed away a couple of years back after a cardiac arrest," said a neighbour in Mumbai.

"She was a brilliant student and warm and friendly. She always wanted to excel academically and wanted to make it big in the field of architecture. I just can't believe Minal is no longer there," Neeta Bhivankar, Minal's childhood friend, said.

"Who would know that I'd lose her so soon and so cruelly?" she asked, echoing all of Minal's friends and family.

An ardent fan of Ayn Rand's 'The Fountainhead', Minal had decided to follow in her father's footsteps and become an architect. Instead she followed him to another world.