Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said the body of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, 21, who was killed in war-torn Ukraine’s Kharkiv, has been located and that it will be brought to India when the shelling in the region ceases.
“The body has been found and is in the mortuary,” Bommai said in Bengaluru.
“The mortal remains of Karnataka student Naveen Gyanagoudar have been embalmed and kept in a mortuary in Ukraine. All efforts are on to bring it to India. External Affairs minister Jaishankar has stated this to me,” Bommai told reporters in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
“Ukraine is under shell attack from Russia. We will try to bring Naveen’s mortal remains back home immediately on the stoppage of the shelling. The officials of the Indian Embassy, too, are in constant contact with the concerned authorities in this regard,” Bommai said.
The statements come over a week after Naveen, who hails from Haveri district in Karnataka, was a fourth-year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University, who was killed in the province of Kharkiv while he was out to buy some provisions at a supermarket near his home.
He became the first Indian casualty in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
{{/usCountry}}He became the first Indian casualty in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
{{/usCountry}}Around 500 students from Karnataka have returned to India while another 160 are still in war-torn Ukraine, according to the Karnataka government.
Meanwhile, Naveen’s friends and two brothers from the same village in Haveri have reached Delhi after surviving in a bunker and then in the woods for a few days, according to persons aware of the developments.
“About 200 students from Karnataka are stranded in Kharkiv and taking shelter in bunkers. The Indian Embassy is trying to bring them back. We are in touch with the Union External Affairs minister in this regard. Prime Minister Modi himself is monitoring it. A huge operation to airlift the students is on. It is being made possible due to the cordial relations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with various countries,” Bolmmai said on Monday.
Students who have returned are now faced with the loss of their professional education.
Bommai said that a suitable decision would be taken after consulting with the union government in the coming days to accommodate students who have come back from Ukraine.