The dead body of 51-year-old Indian housemaid, Saraswathy Kalappara, has been lying at a Riyadh morgue for more than 2 months now, apparently due to the neglect of the Indian Embassy.

The Indian Embassy failed to complete formalities and issue a NOC (No-Objection Certificate) two months after Saraswathy’s children submitted the certificate for power of attorney.

The medical report, issued by the hospital, says that “the cause of death was cardio-respiratory arrest due to illness of unknown etiology.” The report further states that “the doctors could not find any visible injuries or marks of violence.”

Following the death of Saraswathy, her sons and legal heirs, Sudheesh and Sudeep, sent a power of attorney to the Embassy of India in Riyadh on April 1, 2013 authorizing the embassy “to do whatever it deems appropriate in bringing back the dead body” to Kerala.

They further stated that they have “no doubts regarding the cause of death.”

Both Sudheesh and Sudeep have repeatedly said that they are not interested in any compensation or monetary benefit from the sponsor and that they only want the repatriation of their mother’s dead body to India.

The Indian Embassy did not follow up with local authorities to process the documents for sending the body to India. The lax attitude of the embassy forced the relatives of the deceased to send another power of attorney to Manikandan, representative of the Indian community service group Fokasa where the late housemaid worked, but the embassy did not allow Manikandan to process the documents.

The deceased had both a valid iqama and passport at the time of her death. Saraswathy was legally under the sponsorship of Anwar Al Mantub Rokan Al-Murshid, but when Fokasa contacted him, he said that Saraswathy had absconded soon after her arrival in May 2012 and that he had been unaware of her whereabouts since then. He also said that he not declare her a runaway (huroob).

Fokasa representatives, Manidandan and Rafi Pangodu, met the deputy chief of mission at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, Shri Sibi George, and requested him to issue a No-Objection Certificate for sending the dead body to India and also to bear the cost of transportation of the body from the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF).

Following consultation with the staff at the Community Welfare Section, the DCM said that the Indian Embassy will process the documents to send the body home and that the embassy shall bear the cost of transportation.

Saraswathy died at King Fahad Medical City on March 28.