While the body of techie Pawan Kumar, who allegedly committed suicide in the USA, has still not reached his family in Bengaluru, the ministry of external affairs says it can do nothing in the matter unless his relatives sign the required forms.
“But so far the family has refused to do so saying it has some issues to sort out with Cognizant, the company which Pawan worked for,” said MEA sources, adding that deputy consul general, Pawan Kumar Bajaj of the New York consulate was in touch with Pawan’s father, Anjaiah, and representatives of Cognizant.
“The rules stipulate that an authorisation letter from either the father or other blood relatives should be issued to the funeral home so that the body can be embalmed and sent home. But Mr Anjaiah reportedly told Mr Bajaj that he was not ready to give such a letter as there were some issues to sort out with the company. Cognizant too has not submitted Pawan’s passport and other details to allow the airlines to bring his body back to India.
“The consulate in New York is doing everything possible to see that these requirements are met and Pawan’s body is flown home to Bengaluru,” the MEA sources added. While it’s also being claimed that Pawan’s family wants a job for his sister and some monetary compensation, it firmly denied it was looking to make money out of the incident. Pawan’s sister, Gunasheela told Deccan Chronicle: “The only thing my family wants from the company is the FIR report, his suicide note, laptop and other case details before we sign the documents.”
“We have also asked the company to arrange for one member of our family to go to the US because only then can we really understand what happened. We personally want to go and get his body back along with all other documents pertaining to his death. We did not demand a job for me or monetary compensation from the company.”
She also claimed all that the family wanted was help in clearing her brother’s name as a murder accused. “If we sign the documents it will only mean that we accept my brother murdered a woman and then committed suicide. We are not blaming Cognizant for my brother’s death, but since it decided to send him to the US based on his performance, it should take some responsibility and come to our help The company has promised to get back to us and we are waiting for its response,” she added
A Cognizant company spokesperson said it was trying to help Pawan’s family. “The family made certain demands a few days ago and we are discussing them with our US office. We will get back to the family with a detailed clarification,” he assured.