Naveen’s Body Will Be Brought Back Once Shelling Stops in Ukraine: Karnataka CM

Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine on 1 March.

(Image: Namita Chauhan\The Quint)

Informing about Naveen Shekharappa, the MBBS student who died during shelling in Ukraine, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, "External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar has informed us that Naveen's body has been embalmed and kept in a mortuary in Ukraine. His body will be brought to India once shelling stops there."

Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, a student at the Kharkiv National Medical University, was standing in a queue to buy groceries at a supermarket in Kharkiv when Russian shelling began in the city on the morning of 1 March.

The 21-year-old Indian student lost his life in a bomb attack that targeted to the Governor's House in the city.

This comes after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA's comment on the dead body "taking up more space in a flight" provoked a huge controversy.

The Karnataka MLA, Arvind Bellad, had told reporters that the priority was to bring back hundreds of students stuck in Ukraine and that a coffin takes up space for nearly eight to 10 people on a plane.

Bellad had said, "The government is putting in all efforts to bring back the mortal remains of Naveen. Ukraine is a war zone and everyone is aware of it. Efforts are being made and if possible, the body will be brought back."

Meanwhile, with several hundred Indian students stranded in Ukraine's eastern city of Sumy, India's United Nations (UN) Ambassador TS Tirumurti reiterated on Monday, the demand for the safe and uninterrupted passage for all civilians.

The safe corridor for Indian students stranded in Sumy could not materialise, Tirumurti said, while expressing India's condolences for not just the two Indians who had died but also for every civilian who had lost their lives in the conflict.

He added that India is "deeply concerned that despite our repeated urgings" to both Russia and Ukraine, the "safe corridor for our students stranded in Sumy did not materialise."