A tragic pair fatally struck by a subway train in Manhattan over the weekend were longtime friends and recent Rutgers University graduates just starting out in their careers, The Post has learned.
Malaika Chitre and Navam Kaul, both 24 and from New Jersey, traveled in the same circles at Rutgers and beyond, said Rajnikant Pipalia, whose son counted Kaul as a good pal.
“They (Kaul and Chitre) grew up in the same world,” Pipalia said.
“They’re all part of the same friends circle, the same South Asian group hanging out together, enjoying the same festivals.”
The longtime pals, who also went to high school together, according to Pipalia, both graduated from Rutgers in 2024, their respective LinkedIn accounts show.
From there, Chitre, of Dayton, NJ, got a job as a quality operations specialist at Acadia Pharmaceuticals and started studying to become a doctor of pharmacy at Temple University, according to her LinkedIn.
Kaul, of Sayreville, NJ, worked as a financial data analyst at Bloomberg, his LinkedIn states.
“They all did college very well, studied, moved on to Fortune 500 companies,” Pipalia said.
Pipalia said Kaul is of Nepali descent, with his parents immigrating to the US roughly 30 years ago. He last saw Kaul about a year ago, as his son’s friend often visited.
“There’s nothing in his life that would make him do anything stupid,” he said.
