Kashmiri merchant dies in Kolkata, buried there against wishes of family

KOLKATA — Authorities in West Bengal’s Kolkata city Wednesday refused to hand over the body of a Kashmiri merchant to his family due to COVID-19 scare.

The family in Kashmir are wandering from pillar to post to take the possession of the body but has failed so for while their pleas and requests have gone to deaf ears.

A Kashmir shawl trader Ghulam Rasool Reshi son of Abdul Rehman Reshi, resident of Dara Saidapora Harwan area of Srinagar suffered heart-attack in Kolkata on Wednesday morning. He was shifted to hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

His relatives said that instead of handing over the body to his family back home in Kashmir, authorities buried it near a mosque in Howrah Bridge area. “We have been requesting authorities and even contacted district administration but nobody listens to us,” they said.

They said authorities in Kolkata cite lockdown as the reason and they say due to COVID-19 scare, they are unable to send the body to Kashmir. The family members appealed authorities to handover the body to them on humanitarian grounds.

The deceased is survived by his parents, wife and a little daughter.