Rathore attacker is a bright, shy NID student

GANDHINAGAR - Utsav Sharma, who attacked former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore, convicted for molestation, outside a Chandigarh court Monday, is a post-graduate diploma student of the prestigious National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, with an impressive academic track record.

Utsav, who has done his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts course from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), joined the NID in 2006 as a student of animation design and was in the final stage of his diploma slated to get over in 2008, said NID registrar Vijaya Deshmukh.

Though most of his batchmates have already passed out, Utsav is doing a self-sponsored film as part of his diploma project and has been given extension for it.

“Such projects are time consuming and we are liberal in giving time extensions in such cases,” Deshmukh added.

A bright student, who bagged a merit scholarship during his bachelor’s course, Utsav belongs to a family of academicians. While his father S.K. Sharma is a professor in the mechanical engineering department at the BHU, his mother teaches in the department of psychiatry.

Those who know Utsav at the NID are in a state of shock.

“At best we could term him a shy student, but he was never into any sort of rowdyism. In fact, he was more of an introvert,” said animation faculty member S. Mukherjee.