KATHMANDU, Oct 12: The Paralympic Committee in London has warned of performing the last rites of a Nepali sports official, who died on September 18 following a suicide attempt a week earlier, if the kin of the deceased did not respond to their calls.
An official from the Paralympic Committee informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Thursday evening that they would be forced to perform the last rites of late Man Bahadur Lopchan, 45, of National Paralympics Committee, if they did not hear anything from the kin of the deceased by coming Tuesday.[break]
The dead body of Lopchan is lying stranded for over three weeks in London after his family member here in Kathmandu refused to receive it, demanding probe into what they called “mysterious” death. Lopchan died of hypoxic brain injury and suspension while undergoing treatment at Royal London Hospital.
The dead body is with Rowland Brothers International, which provides mortuary facilities, since September 24. Though the company has already made an arrangement with a company called Sherpa and Swiss Adventure to ferry the body to Kathmandu, the efforts have failed as the kin of the deceased have consistently refused to receive it.
Officials at Consular Section at the MoFA said they have been receiving telephone calls from London to provide the details of the kin of the deceased who would be receiving the dead body in Kathmandu. But as the family members have declined to receive the body demanding probe into the death and also compensation, the ministry has failed to provide them any details, according to Chief of Consular Section Dilip Paudel.
Lopchan´s family has tried to cast Lopchan´s death as an attempted murder. They maintained that he was murdered after he raised the issue of irregularities within the Paralympic committee.
Talking to Republica, the victim´s son, Santa Bahadur Lopchan, said, "We will not let those behind the murder go scot-free. There is no point in receiving the dead body as long as there is no guarantee of action against the guilty [in the murder]."
Lopchan said the members of Nepali Paralympic Committee delegation had brought the passport and luggage of his father, leaving him in the hospital.
"They did not let me accompany my father as a caretaker when they left for London," he complained.
Chairman of National Paralympics Committee Surendra Bahadur Basnet, who was also part of Nepali delegation to London Paralympics, refuted the claim of victim´s family that the death was “mysterious”. "The family members had agreed to receive the dead body initially. But they changed their mind after our rival Nepal Paralympic Committee incited them to do so," Basnet alleged.
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