MDH founder Dharampal Gulati passes away

INDIA’S spice king and MDH Masala owner Mahashay Dharampal Gulati, familiar to all those who watched him in his company’s ads over the years, died on Thursday morning. He was 97.

Gulati, who was awarded the country’s third-highest civilian award Padma Bhushan last year, was undergoing treatment at the Mata Chanan Devi Hospital in Delhi where he breathed his last, sources said.

According to reports, he was undergoing post-Covid treatment and suffered a cardiac arrest in the morning. Gulati, popularly known as Spice King, was born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan) on March 27, 1923. He moved to India after Partition and set up his business in Delhi.

Mahashian Di Hatti (MDH) was founded by his late father Mahashay Chunni Lal Gulati.

Tributes for the entrepreneur, whose face became synonymous with his brand, poured in on social media platforms.

The 14 seamen were taken into custody on February 14, 2020 by the local Houthi authorities in Yemen, the Indian embassy in Djibouti said in a statement.

‘After persistent and painstaking efforts, the Embassy of India, Djibouti was able to get them released on November 28 through its Sana’a office,’ the statement said.

According to the embassy, the stranded Indians had lost their passport and other documents and belongings. It also requested all maritime and other authorities concerned to take note of their situation and support them.

The Indian Consulate in Dubai confirmed the arrival of the Indian seamen in Dubai. Chandrashekhar Bhatia of the Gulf Maharashtra Business Forum (GMBF) said that the Indian nationals took a flight to Mumbai from the Dubai International Airport on Saturday night.

Bhatia also shared a letter signed by GMBF Global President Sunil Manjerakar in which he thanked the government and officials who helped ensure the release of the seamen.

In another note shared by Bhatia, the seamen claimed that they have not received their salaries from the last 10 months. They requested the Indian embassy in Oman and their Omani employer to release their salary.