Body of Indian student killed in Ukraine received by Karnataka chief minister
Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar died in shelling by the Russian armed forces in Kharkiv city on March 1.
Mortal remains of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, an Indian student who was killed due to Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv city on March 1, arrived in Bengaluru on Monday.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai received Gyanagoudar’s body at the Kempegowda International Airport. Bommai thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Centre’s efforts to brink back his body.
The chief minister said it took a coordination with the countries neighbouring Ukraine to bring back the student’s mortal remains, reported The Hindu.
“It is unfortunate and painful that parents who wanted their son to return after his medical education are instead receiving his mortal remains,” he told reporters.
The chief minister, who was at the airport with state Health Minister K Sudhakar, also laid down a wreath on Gyanagoudar’s mortal remains.
Gyanagoudar’s passport and other documents were returned to his family members, who live in Karnataka’s Haveri district. The chief minister also handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh to the family and promised them a job, Mint reported.
Gyanagoudar, a fourth-year student at the National Medical University in Kharkiv, had died when he left a bunker to buy groceries. His uncle, Ujjanagouda, had said that Gyanagoudar told his father that there was no food or water in the bunker, where he was sheltering with other Indian students.
Many Indian students had taken shelter in bunkers after Kharkiv witnessed heavy attack from the Russian forces that began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
On March 19, Gyanagoudar’s parents had said they have decided to donate their son’s body for medical research. The body will be donated to the SS Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre in Karnataka’s Davanagere district.