65 days after he died in Saudi, Barmer man’s family wait for his body

Family members of Raju Das, who died in Saudi Arabia on February 20 under suspicious circumstances are waiting for his dead body and have no clue when their endless wait will end.

Das, 38, a resident of Kashmir village in Rajasthan’s Barmer district, left for the Middle East kingdom more than six months back in search of a job there.

According to Das’s brother, Kumbha Ram, he got a job to graze cattle in Riyadh.

On February 20, however, the family received the news of his death from a relative who too worked in the country.

Since then they have been seeking help from the district administration and politicians, including Sheo BJP legislator Manvendra Singh, to bring back his body.

“From the district administration to local politicians, we have approached everybody and made all possible efforts to bring back Raju’s body but nothing worked in our favour so far,” said Kumbha Ram.

“We feel helpless as no one in the family has a passport,” he said.

A month back, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had assured Manvendra Singh that the Centre will expedite the matter. But painful wait for the family is proving endless as even after 65 days, the deceased body could not be brought back to India.

The Centre is in touch with the government of Saudi Arabia and the body will be brought to India after clearance of “necessary formalities”, said Singh.

Singh claimed that according to his information earlier Riyadh police considered this case to be a case of suicide and as the investigation was going on due to which body could not brought back to India.

Investigation by the Riyadh police has been completed but due to lack of documents Das’s dead body has not yet been handed over to the Indian authorities there, Singh said, adding that efforts are on to complete the process as soon as possible.

Das is survived by his 65-year-old mother, 70-year-old father, wife Guddi Devi and two children Ramesh (5) and Kavita (3).