Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has urged the Union Minister of External Affairs Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to bring back the mortal remains of Sanjeev Kumar so that his last rites could be performed as per the Hindu traditions.
Sanjeev was a resident of Mohalla Gurusar of Una.
In a letter written to the Union Minister of External Affairs, Chief Minister informed that Sanjeev Kumar was working as a truck driver with M/s Saleem Abdullah Saad AL Saqr in Saudi Arabia since 1999 and died in Besh Hospital in the Jizan region of Jaddah on 24th January 2021.
The deceased family got in touch with the Indian Embassy in the kingdom so that the mortal remains of the deceased could be brought back to India for cremation as per the Hindu rites. However, on 18th February 2021 the owner of the company informed the bereaved family that they had buried the mortal remains of Sanjeev Kumar in a Muslim graveyard and even forwarded a copy of the death certificate and burial permit which erroneously mentioned the religion of Sanjeev Kumar as Muslim, CM further added.
Earlier, Una MLA Satpal Singh Raizada had raised the issue on Tuesday in the Vidhan Sabha following which the Chief Minister had assured the Assembly to take up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs.
Meanwhile, Sanjeev Kumar’s wife has also approached the Delhi High Court to direct the Ministry of External Affairs to take steps to urgently exhume the remains and repatriate them to India.
