CM skips session, receives Naveen’s body at KIA

NT Correspondent

Taking a break from the ongoing budget session of the Legislature, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai received the mortal remains of Naveen Shekarappa Gyangoudar, a Haveri-based medical student who died in Kharkiv City in Ukraine during the ongoing conflict three weeks ago, when it arrived at KIAL in Bengaluru on Monday.

Accompanied by Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K. Sudhakar, Haveri-Gadag MP Shivakumar Udasi and top bureaucrats, the CM received the coffin carrying the body of Naveen and placed a wreath as a mark of respect to the departed soul. Naveen was pursuing his medical course in Ukraine and was killed in shelling when he came out of his bunker to buy food for his friends three weeks ago.

The body could not be brought back till now due to the fierce fighting between the two countries. Finally, the External Affairs Ministry and the Indian Embassy in Ukraine managed to retrieve the body, got it embalmed and preserved in a government hospital morgue while waiting for the war to subside. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked officials assigned the task of evacuating stranded students to bring back the mortal remains to Karnataka.

After receiving the body at KIAL, the CM left for Ranebennur to participate in the final rituals to be performed by Naveen’s parents before handing over the body to the medical college for research. Bommai complimentedNaveen’s family members for taking the decision to hand over his body to the medical college.

Talking to reporters in Davangere , the CM said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made an almost impossible task possible by bringing back Naveen’s mortal remains from wartor n Ukraine. Naveen should have become a doctor after completing his studies had it not been for the tragedy, he said.

The CM also praised the Centre for Operation Ganga to bring back students stranded in Ukraine and said in the past 3 weeks, 19,000 Indian students have returned of whom 572 are from Karnataka.

The mortal remains of Naveen were secured by contacting funeral agents and it was then embalmed. It was then taken to Dubai from where the flight later arrived in Bengaluru. “The pain and grief will always remain that Naveen could not be brought back alive. We will render all the help needed for his family.”