Ranchi, Oct. 15: Aditya Vikrant Sharma was still unconscious, while friend and schoolmate Sarvani Das was laid to rest yesterday after they jumped from a four-storey building on Thursday in a baffling suicide pact reasons for which are yet unclear.

Though operated on Thursday night to stop bleeding from the liver, the Class IX student of St Thomas School, Dhurwa, who has also suffered a pelvic joint dislocation, is recovering slowly at Gurunanak Hospital ICU in the state capital.

Medical director of the hospital N.N. Aggarwal said the chances of the 14-year-old’s survival was more than 50 per cent now since his vital parameters (pulse and BP) were normal. The X-ray had revealed a minor dislocation in the pelvic area and a CT scan would be done once Aditya regained his senses. “It is a miracle that he is still living,” the doctor said.

Class VIII student Sarvani, 13, was, meanwhile, laid to rest at Harmu Mukti Dham on Friday afternoon in the presence of family members and her father’s colleagues from Birsa Munda Airport.

The twin localities of Nivaranpur (the suicide site and Aditya’s neighbourhood) and Anantpur (where Sarvani lived) remained numb with shock. The campus in Dhurwa, where the “happy friends” took their classes on Thursaday, stayed painfully sombre. The school, which suspended classes for the day, has decided to hold a condolence meeting and counselling session today.

“The incident is so disturbing that I remained awake the whole night thinking where this society heading to? As an academic, I am compelled to think of ways to guide our future generation in a better way. We will try to minimise tension of students and teach them how to love life,” Father Joseph, principal of St Thomas, told The Telegraph over phone.

“Other students are in shock. We have invited Dr Jay Prakash from Central Institute of Psychiatry, Kanke, our official counsellor, for group and individual sessions, slated from 7:30am till noon. Such sessions are held at least once a month,” he said.

Some 10km from the school campus, Sharma Nivas — Aditya’s home — grappled with silence it had never known before. Curtains guarded the agony inside and the forbidding 7ft iron gate locked uninvited visitors outside. “I haven’t seen anyone coming in or going out since last night. Everyone must be at the hospital. Neighbours too aren’t being allowed inside that house,” a watchman at Ras Bihari Apartments, bang opposite to the house, said.

Aditya’s friends in the neighbourhood said they couldn’t believe what had happened. They said the teenager was shy and reticent, and was never seen going around with any girl. Though not very good in studies, he had a passion for cricket and football.

“He was one of our best players and everyone thought high of him,” said Utkarsh, a Class XII student of DAV, Hehal, who lives barely 50 metres away from Sharma Nivas.

“Aditya was a very good boy. He didn’t smoke or chat away over phone for hours like other youngsters,” added friend Joy Banerjee, who studies with Utkarsh.

Residents of Nivaranpur hinted at stress in the family. “I have known him since childhood. He wasn’t good in studies from the beginning. For any parent, this is a matter of concern. Also, it is quite natural to be infatuated at this age. All I can say is that the child was afraid of being reproved by parents for something,” an elderly woman said.

People who knew Sarvani recalled her as a pretty and polite girl. Anita Sharma, who was a neighbour at Samridhi Apartment in Anantpur till a year and a half ago, said she came from a cultured family, where people were “welcoming, warm and liberal”.

“When I last saw Sarvani a few months ago, she did not look troubled. She always greeted you with namaste and touched the feet of elders,” Sharma said.

Police are yet to fathom why the girl and the boy who looked happy while returning home on the school bus and visiting a local temple took such an extreme step.

SSP Saket Kumar Singh said all primary investigations had suggested so far was that they were close friends. “It is difficult to say what prompted them to commit suicide,” he added.