Kartik Vasudev dreamt of going to Canada to pursue higher education but fate had other plans: Family of Ghaziabad boy killed in Toronto

Kartik Vasudev was shot dead in Toronto on April 7. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds at the Sherbourne Subway Station and was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

New Delhi: Kartik Vasudev, a 21-year-old boy from Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) who went to Canada to pursue higher education, was shot dead in Toronto on April 7. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds at the Glen Road entrance of Sherbourne Subway Station and was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

It was just three months ago that Kartik left for Canada to pursue his dream of getting higher education and working in digital marketing. He had enrolled at Seneca College in Toronto and his offline classes were yet to begin. He had been studying online till now.

Talking to PTI news agency, his father Jitesh Vasudev and mother Pooja remembered how their child had charted out his journey to Canada, something he had been planning and researching since clearing class 10.

"He had a lot of dreams and used to say he would go to Canada to fulfil all dreams," his mother Pooja said.

"Right after completing Class 10, he shared with us that he wanted to go to Canada. He was a good student. He scored very good marks in classes 10 and 12, and even during graduation from Delhi," Jitesh Vasudev, who works in a multinational company in Noida, said.

"He had been researching everything related to Canada for the last three years and took IELTS also. He wanted to work in digital marketing in future. He had been working for an Instagram account also. He was good at his work," he added.

He said owing to Kartik's inclination and passion to follow his dreams, the family, which lives in the Rajendra Nagar area of Ghaziabad, near Delhi, had also supported him in pursuing his dreams abroad.

"He was supposed to go to Canada in December last year. The flight tickets had been booked but the visa was not arranged. The money was wasted. His visa came in a few days later and once again flight tickets were booked and he finally went on January 4," the father said.

He said the family is not very rich but he assured Kartik of supporting him financially.

"That's why we were wonderstruck when he told us that he wanted to work part-time. But he insisted that a lot of students there do it. He worked at Burritos (a Mexican restaurant)," Jitesh Vasudev said.

It was a one-and-a-half-hour journey from his residence. He would take a bus, then a metro and then again a bus to reach his workplace, he said.

"He had joined work just around a fortnight ago but according to the work system there, he was paid after two weeks. Just a few days ago he got his first salary. He wanted to buy an iPhone with it and he did. He was very happy," the father added.

The family said it was the first time Kartik was living away from his family.

His mother said Kartik never had a problem with anyone nor did he talk of any trouble to him in Canada.

"He was a sweet child, never raised his voice. His manager at work also appreciated him," she said.

(With agency inputs)