A couple, in their late 50s, from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, were in Kathmandu for a pilgrimage to the Pashupatinath Temple when violent anti-corruption protests rocked Nepal and forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign. The couple was concerned but thought their stay at a five-star hotel would keep them out of harm’s way. But that was not to be.
On the midnight of September 9, the hotel was set afire. The woman fell as her grip loosened while she was being evacuated using curtains. She fell on mattresses laid by rescuers on the ground floor and suffered injuries.
The couple soon got separated as the army arrived. “She probably suffered a shock. She was taken by the army personnel to a hospital, but she did not get any treatment. My father, on September 10, after a lot of searching, found my mother. But she was already dead. My father also suffered cuts to his fingers and has a lot of swelling in his hands as he tried to break the glass of the hotel window to get out,” the couple’s son, Vishal Gola, said as the woman’s body arrived at their Ghaziabad home on Friday.
The woman, Rajesh Gola, 57, and her husband, Ramvir Singh Gola, left Ghaziabad on September 7 and checked into the Hyatt Regency. “We did not get help there. Locals helped us out there in Nepal, but they charged us. With their help, my father arranged for an ambulance up to the Sunauli border. From there, we hired another ambulance around 2pm on Thursday, and one of our cars accompanied it to Ghaziabad. Through our contacts in a ministry, we were able to get the body while completing the formalities at the border. The body arrived Friday morning and was cremated,” said Vishal Gola.
{{/usCountry}}The woman, Rajesh Gola, 57, and her husband, Ramvir Singh Gola, left Ghaziabad on September 7 and checked into the Hyatt Regency. “We did not get help there. Locals helped us out there in Nepal, but they charged us. With their help, my father arranged for an ambulance up to the Sunauli border. From there, we hired another ambulance around 2pm on Thursday, and one of our cars accompanied it to Ghaziabad. Through our contacts in a ministry, we were able to get the body while completing the formalities at the border. The body arrived Friday morning and was cremated,” said Vishal Gola.
{{/usCountry}}The woman’s husband is purportedly heard saying in a video on social media that no one helped them in Nepal. “From Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu, we were planning to go to Mithila, but before that, a curfew was announced, and the airport was shut down. I extended the hotel stay for one day.”
He is heard saying that rioters came around 6pm and set fire to the hotel. “We had to jump from the hotel to save ourselves. She [his wife] suffered injuries in the process and died during treatment. No one came for help, and I would tell my acquaintances that they should not be visiting Nepal,” Ramvir Singh Gola is heard saying in the video. HT could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.
Umesh Kumar, in charge of Ghaziabad’s Nandgram police station, said the body was sent to Hindon cremation grounds after it arrived from Nepal. “We also sent police personnel to oversee law and order.”