The mortal remains of the fisherman, who died in a Pakistani jail hospital following illness last month, were today consigned to flames at his native Malkhet village in Umargam tehsil of Valsad district. The fisherman, Mohan Jethiya Rathod, had died in the hospital of Karachi jail in Pakistan on October 2. His body was flown to India last evening. “Rathod was cremated at his native Malkhet village, about 300 kms from Vadodara, this morning,” Jagdish Tandel, a senior official of the fisheries department of Gujarat government, said. His body was flown from Karachi yesterday and was received by two officials of Gujarat Fisheries Department at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. “After completing the required legal formalities at the Mumbai airport, the body was taken to his village by road last night and was handed over to his family,” Tandel said. In the last week of October, Pakistani government had informed the Union Home Ministry about the death of the fisherman at Karachi jail hospital. Thereafter, the Gujarat government was informed about it, which completed the necessary paperwork to bring back Rathod’s body. Rajya Sabha member Parimal Nathwani recently had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the issue. Veljibhai Masani, senior vice president of Gujarat Fishermen Association, had also taken up the issue with the Centre. Rathod was one of the seven crew members onboard ‘Sara’, the boat which was seized by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency in the Arabian Sea on the charge of entering that country’s waters on December 20 last year. Remaining crew members are still in Pakistani jail.
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