Barmer family’s wait for son’s body likely to end soon
BARMER: A family’s long wait to receive the body of one of their own from Saudi Arabia is likely to end soon as external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has assured to expedite the matter.
Raju Das (38), a resident of Kashmir village in bordering Barmer district, left for Saudi Arabia five months ago in search of a job. He also had a relative working there. According to Raju’s brother Kumbha Ram, he got the job of cattle grazing in Riyadh.
On February 19, however, the family received the news of Raju’s death from their relative. Since then they have been seeking help from district administration and political circles, including BJP MLA from Sheo Manvendra Singh, to bring back his body.
“From 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. We feel helpless. No one in the family owns a passport,” Kumbha Ram said.
MLA Manvendra Singh, who has been following up with the Centre on the case, said Swaraj has assured him that the government is in touch with Saudi Arabia on the matter and the body will be brought to India, soon after the clearance of necessary formalities.
“On Thursday, Sushma Swaraj told me that the family need not wait any longer as the body will be brought back to India soon,” he said, adding that police in Riyadh consider it to be a case of suicide.
It is mentioned here that Independent MLA Hanuman Beniwal had also raised the issue in state assembly, asking the Rajasthan government to make necessary arrangements to bring back Raju’s body.