Clearing the air on the death of Indian housemaid Saraswathy Kalappara, whose body is lying at a Riyadh morgue, the Indian Embassy yesterday said: “As per the medical report issued by the forensic medical center at the King Saud Medical City, the cause of death has been determined as cardiorespiratory arrest due to illness.”
The report said that “there was no visible injury or marks of violence.”
Ashok Warrier, first secretary (community welfare) at the Indian Embassy, told Arab News that the 51-year-old Indian national died on March 29 this year and it appears that she had run away from her sponsor, a few months before her death.
According to the information gathered by the embassy, she was brought dead to the hospital.
Commenting on the formalities and issuance of a no-objection certificate on submission of a certificate of power of attorney by the family of the deceased, Warrier said the original copy of the power of attorney has not been received. He said that the embassy is verifying the details and “will do the needful accordingly.”
He said that the sons of Saraswathy had no doubt regarding the cause of death of their mother. In an affidavit, dated April 1, they requested the embassy to release the body “without complying with the formalities” and make arrangements to send the body to India.
It is not clear as to why they thought it necessary to record a statement like this in their affidavit.
Warrier said that one Manikandan Bahuleyan wrote to the embassy saying that there is no friend of the deceased in the Kingdom.
“This is incorrect as the embassy is aware of a friend named Sainaba, who informed the family about the death and her telephone number was also furnished by Saraswathy’s family,” said Warrier.
“When the mission contacted her, she said that she was informed by a driver from Tamil Nadu working in Saudi Arabia. The efforts by the embassy to contact this driver did not succeed.”
On June 4, the Indian mission received a communication from one Muralidharan heading an illegal organization named Fokasa, he said, adding that Muralidharan claimed that the embassy was not sending the body, “even though all the documents are clear and valid.” It is mystifying how he came to such a conclusion with certainty, he said.
He said that Fokasa itself is running without the prior approval of the government.
Embassy clears air on death of Indian housemaid
