Mangaluru : B. Samiullah (29) has recalled the movement with media is the loss of his dear friend Harish in stabbing at Manihalla in Bantwal taluk on Thursday.

“If we had left the place with other friends, we could have been saved from the attack (that resulted in Harish’s death),” Mr. Samiuallah repents.

Mr.Samiullah is traumatised over the loss of his 30-year-old schoolmate, with whom he has played cricket and has spent many happy moments.

“I am sad to lose such a genial person,” he told from his bed at a private hospital here. “It is unfortunate that he is a victim of religious fanatics. What saddens me is the fate of the family of Mr. Harish who have lost their sole earning member.”

Mr. Samiullah, a driver in a steel trading firm in B.C.Road, said he had returned to the office around 5 p.m. on Thursday after delivering a load of steel to a customer. “As soon as I came, there was disturbance opposite our office where Social Democratic Party of India activists were agitated over stones thrown at them.”

Raghavendra Prabhu, the owner of the firm, asked him and other drivers to bring vehicles inside the firm’s premises and leave the office. He returned on his motorcycle to the ground near his house in Badagudde where he played volleyball. He and other friends then went to a shop nearby for Laxmi Pooja.

Harish also joined them and they all had snacks and juice at the shop. “Around 7.30 p.m. all my friends left. Two minutes later I left in my motorcycle to drop Harish to his house, 50 metres away.”

Just a few metres from Harish’s house, attackers had blocked the road by placing an Omni van. As they reached near the vehicle, the assailants pounced on them.

“We both jumped from the motorcycle and ran in different directions,” he said. As he ran, assailants hit his back with sharp objects. “I was in a helpless situation. I could not turn back and look at Harish (who died of assault).”

Harish, who died of stabbing at Manihalla on Thursday, is survived by his father and mother and two siblings. He was a plumber by profession. According to B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in charge of Dakshina Kannada, his father is suffering from a terminal illness.

More than the pain from stab injuries on the back of his chest and ear,