The family of Pawan Kumar (26), the software engineer who was found dead in a New Jersey motel recently, seems determined that he should be cleared of the murder allegation against him before they perform the final rites.
With the body expected to reach the city in a day or two, Pawan’s uncle Mr K.P. Gopalakrishna said, “We want to know the truth and are not ready to listen to the ‘stories’ about Pawan. We will accept the body only after documentary evidence is provided to us. If the documents prove that Pawan had committed suicide after killing the foreign national Danielle Melhman, we will accept it. “
“We heard that the body will come to the city, latest by Monday. At any cost, we will not receive the body if our doubts are not cleared. The body will be taken straight from the airport to Cognizant office at Nagavara near Hebbal and we will stage a protest there. The company will be responsible if there is any law and order problem,” he said.
“We are getting support from various quarters, including human rights activists. Freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy has also expressed support and we will be meeting him on Sunday. We have also signed certain authorization papers required to complete certain formalities for the United States’ police to release the body and have handed it at the Bengaluru office of External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna. But none of the company executives have us even on humanitarian grounds. We have decided not to sign the forms given to us by Cognizant for the return of the body. The company is not claiming any responsibility and is not helping us know the truth even though they can through their executives working in the United States,” Mr Gopalakrishna added.
Pawan was found dead in a room at Belleville Motor Lodge, in Belleville, New Jersey. Pawan is suspected to have murdered 26-year-old Danielle Mehlman (26), a teacher and a part-time dancer at a club.