The body of 49-year-old Rambhakta, who has been a driver in Saudi Arabia for 16 years, was buried without the family's permission.
Last Friday morning, Vishnudevi Khadka was grieving outside the electric crematorium in Pashupat area of Kathmandu. Relatives were consoling him. After the death of her husband Ram Bhakta Bahadur, who had gone to work in Saudi Arabia, the coffin carrying his body was brought to Tribhuvan International Airport early that day.
The body inside the box was not in a complete state, some of the remaining skeletons were brought here and cremated.
Ram Bhakta Bahadur's body was buried by the Saudi hospital one month after he died of a heart attack without informing the employer company, the deceased's family or the Nepali embassy.
The body of Ram Bhakta Bahadur was exhumed after three months of burial after a huge effort by the family and the Nepali Embassy. Most of the body was decomposed except for a few bones. The same bone of Ram Bhakta was taken to Kathmandu and burnt by the family. 'Since hearing the news of his death, the body We were waiting for the
to come. Suddenly, news came from the embassy that the body had been buried there. At first we didn't even understand what burial meant. It was an unbearable pain when I found out later,' said Vishnu Devi, the wife of Rambhakta, with Kantipur.
Vishnudevi wanted to see her husband's face for the last time. She sent a letter to the embassy through the consular department to send the dead body even if it was buried. We have sent a letter to the embassy to exhume the body and send it. We went to the consular department and applied. After that, the embassy kept moving the body to arrive today and tomorrow.''
With every phone call to the embassy, the date of the body's arrival moved. When it seemed that the body would not come, the family, on the advice of relatives, made Kush's body in the first week of March. A month later, the family got the news that the body would be exhumed. The family replied that there is no need to send the dead body as Kazkiriya has already died.
``Grandpa, mummy, sister and I sat down and did kazkiriya,'' Rudravi, the younger daughter of Rambhakta, said to Kantipur, 'We said that after all the work was done, there is no need to send the dead body. Rudravi said that after hearing the news of her father's death, her sister who was in Portugal had also come back to Kazkiria.
49-year-old Ram Bhakta, who was a driver of Suleiman Faleh Anji Company in Saudi Arabia for 16 years, died of a heart attack in his room on November 12, 2024. In the Saudi medical report, the cause of death is written as 'natural'. However, Vishnudevi has been claiming that her husband died due to the negligence of the company. He initially went to a nearby clinic for a check-up due to leg pain. When the company did not send a vehicle to take them to the big hospital, the friends brought them to the room. It collapsed within a short time after bringing it to the room,' said Vishnudevi.
After he died in the room, the body was taken to King South Medical City Hospital by ambulance. This hospital is located at a distance of about 100 km from the location of the Nepali Embassy in Riyadh. The embassy contacted the company and the hospital to arrange for the body to be shipped. Four days after the embassy issued permission (NOC) to the company to send Rambhakta's body, i.e. on December 27, it was revealed that the hospital had buried him. When the company booked the cargo to send the body, it was discovered that the body was buried when it was not found.
Nepali Ambassador to Saudi Naresh Vikram Dhakal said that Rambhakta's body was buried due to lack of coordination between the hospital where the body was kept and the employer company Suleman Faleh Anji within the specified time. If the party who takes responsibility for the deceased (sponsor) does not contact the hospital within two weeks, there is a legal provision that burial can be carried out on the recommendation of the local body. The body was buried when Ram Bhakta's employer did not contact the hospital,' Ambassador Dhakal said, 'We raised this question seriously with the Saudi government.' Ambassador Dhakal said that the process of exhuming buried bodies is very complicated. To exhume the body, we first needed a letter from the family. We received the letter sent by the family through the consular department. Accordingly, permission from the Riyadh governor was required to exhume the body. A lot of effort had to be done for this," he said. "It was only possible after a decision was made by four levels of Saudi Arabia to exhume the body. So it took time.'
