‘Your son is dead’ hoax

ANSWERING a telephone call in his home near Lautoka on the morning of December 11 1968, Choy Gopal suffered a shock and then broke in tears when the caller told him: “Your son has been killed in an accident.”

His wife collapsed. But the call was a prank.

Hundreds of mourners arrived, some from as far as Suva, and a large crowd of sympathisers gathered at the family home at Lovu, three miles along the King’s Rd from Lautoka.

It was only after telegrams had been sent to relatives and arrangements made for air freighting his son’s body home from New Zealand that Mr Gopal discovered that he had been hoaxed.

He later told The Fiji Times he was having his breakfast when the telephone rang and a feminine-type of voice told him it was an international call.

The voice then said: “Your son, Gyaneshwar met with an accident here in Auckland and is dead.”

Stunned, Mr Gopal broke down. He told his wife and she collapsed instantly. The whole family, especially the women, wept bitterly.

Later, friends in Auckland contacted his son and found him alive.

He spoke to his parents and assured them that he “was very much alive”.

Mr Gopal, a former Mayor of Lautoka, said the hoax was a cruel way of treating people.

He was very concerned over the effect the prank would have on his wife and sister. His sister was a heart patient and had to receive treatment from a doctor who was called to the house when she and Mrs Gopal collapsed.

It was announced in the previous Saturday issue of The Fiji Times that Mr Gopal’s son, Gyaneshwar, had obtained his B.A degree at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.

Mr Gopal was the first Indian to become a mayor in Fiji. He was elected Mayor of Lautoka in 1957 after being elected to the Lautoka Town Council in 1956.

On his retirement from the council, he became secretary of the Lautoka Club before joining Beachcomber Cruises, where he was general manager until his death in 1976.

In 1958, Mr Gopal made headlines when his councillors made a no-confidence vote against him on February 17.

The no-confidence vote was over arrangements made for the visit of the Queen Mother to Nadi and Lautoka from January 31 to February 1, 1958.

Mr Gopal had demanded that he be more actively involved in the royal visit. He also refused to be seated on the second row on the main dias and questioned why Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna was allowed to sit in the first row.

Although the program for the Queen’s Mother’s visit was approved by the Governor, Mr Gopal went to Suva the next morning after the royal visit to Lautoka and complained to the Colonial Secretary.