Body of Rajasthan man buried in Moscow to reach native place in Udaipur

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Kota: The mortal remains of a tribal man from Rajasthan, who died in Moscow last year, will be reach his native place in Udaipur on Sunday (February 6) for last rites, officials said.

Hitendra Garasia (46), who hailed from Godwa village, was found dead in Moscow on July 17, 2021. Earlier, the Russian government had agreed to exhume and hand over his body.

Preparations to receive the body and hand it over to the family have been made at New Delhi's 'Bikaner House' that would carry out the proceeding on behalf of the Rajasthan government, an official said on Saturday.

We have received confirmation from Russian authorities on the arrival of Garasia's mortal remains on Sunday morning. We are prepared with an ambulance and other essential formalities, Vimal Sharma, Additional Commissioner of Bikaner House, the sprawling Rajasthan government complex in the national capital, told PTI over phone on Saturday.

The flight is scheduled to land at the airport in New Delhi at 9.15 am on Sunday, Vimal Sharma said, adding that the body would be handed over to Garasia's family after the completion of formalities.

Citing information from Russian authorities, Charmesh Sharma, a Congress leader from Bundi, said the body of Garasia was exhumed on Friday and would be loaded on to a cargo flight late Saturday night.

Charmesh Sharma had in October last year initiated efforts with deceased Garasia's family to bring back the body, stuck in Russia since after Hitendra's death on July 17, 2021.

Garasia had gone to Russia in April 2021 on a one-year work visa but was reportedly found dead in a park in Moscow. The Moscow Police closed the case as an accidental death. Later, the body was buried in Moscow.

Garasia's family was informed about his death by the local police on August 28, 2021. Since then, his family membrs, including wife Asha Devi, daughter Urvashi (19), son Piyush (17), have been trying to get his mortal remains back to India.

The family moved the Rajasthan High Court in December last year. The family had even threatened to immolate themselves during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi in December last year.

The family had also met AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra last month following which she wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 27 urging him to help bring back Garasia's body.

However, the family has refused to thank the central government and instead, accused it of being indifferent as Garasia was a tribal.

The body was stuck there for so long because my father was a tribal, Piyush told PTI over phone from New Delhi.

Had the Indian government and the PMO been a little more sensitive to our repeated pleas to bring back my father's body, the Russian authorities would never have held back the body and could not have buried him, he said.