Sydney, NSW 5th April, 2015

I received the sad and unfortunate news of the death of 29 years old Indian  IT professional, Pankaj Saw (working with Tech Mahindra for Optus) on 2nd April, 2015. Images of the white brick apartment block, located on the corner of Cottonwood Crescent and Waterloo Road, Macquarie Park, show a wooden railing missing from the top-floor balcony of the apartment where Mr Saw lived. Police are saying that the balcony railing gave way, leading to his fall 10 metres below on the concrete floor. A part of railing and his smashed phone were found nearby. He sustained severe head and internal injuries, leading to his death at the scene.

From reports, he was talking to someone on phone at the time of his fall. He had returned from India only a few weeks ago. He married to his wife in December 2014.

His wife, Amrita Gupta, is from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, the Parliamentary constituency of Indian Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. She has met representatives at PM’s constituency office in Varanasi and the local Mayor, Mr Ram Gopal Mohale, and made a few requests. She has expressed her fears that her husband might have been killed by racist violence.

Local newspaper, Dainik Jagran reported the following story today. I was sent a link of the story by a Varanasi local man, Ashutosh Narayan Singh on Twitter today.

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Sun, 05 Apr 2015 01:17 AM (IST) http://m.jagran.com/uttar-pradesh/varanasi-city-12234096.html

वाराणसी : काशी की एक बेटी ने अपने सासद व प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी से पति का शव आस्ट्रेलिया से मंगाने की गुहार लगाई है। इस बाबत शनिवार को पीएम मोदी के संसदीय जनसम्पर्क कार्यालय में पत्र भेजा। जानकारी दी है कि पति की आस्ट्रेलिया में मौत हो गई है। आरोप लगाया कि वहां हो रही नस्लवादी कारणों से पति की हत्या की गई। पूरे प्रकरण की जांच की मांग की। इसके बाद परिजन महापौर रामगोपाल मोहले से भी मुलाकात की। महापौर ने विदेश मंत्री सुषमा स्वराज से वार्ता कर पूरी जानकारी दी। वहां से मृतक का पासपोर्ट समेत पूरा ब्योरा मांगा गया है। बताते हैं कि पाण्डेयघाट की रहने वाली अमृता गुप्ता के हाथ की मेंहदी अभी सूखी भी नहीं थी कि दो अप्रैल को आस्ट्रेलिया के सिडनी में टेक महेन्द्रा कंपनी में बतौर ईजीनियर कार्यरत पंकज की मौत की खबर आई। उन दोनों की शादी गत वर्ष दो दिसंबर को हुई थी। अमृता ने प्रधानमंत्री को भेजे गए पत्र में आशका जताई है कि उसके पति की मौत रेलिंग से गिरने के कारण नहीं हुई है बल्कि आस्ट्रेलिया में चल रहे नस्ली आतंकवाद की वजह से हुई है। अमृता ने इसकी जाच कराने के साथ ही पति के शव को शीघ्र भारत मंगाने के लिए प्रधानमंत्री से गुहार लगाई है।

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From all information available, Pankaj’s death was an accidental death and not due to any racist violence.

Contrary to exaggerated and mostly baseless reports of racist violence against Indians in Indian media in 2009-10, we did not, and still do not, believe we are subjected to any such thing in Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-dies-after-falling-from-thirdfloor-balcony-in-macquarie-park-20150402-1md6vq.html http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-02/man-dies-after-third-floor-balcony-fall-macquarie-park/6366608

Police in NSW, as a rule, do a thorough investigation and submit a report to the Coroner. Post-mortem examination is also done in all such deaths. After post-mortem examination, the body is handed over to the relatives.

Indian Consulate in Sydney takes responsibility for the transport of the body of any Indian citizen to India.

I will try to seek further information in regards to the investigation from the Indian Consulate tomorrow, Monday, 6th April, 2015, and will update this post.

Our heart-felt condolences go to Pankaj’s wife and his family in India.

R. I. P. Pankaj.

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney, NSW, Australia

dryadusingh@gmail.com

http://www.twitter.com/dryadusingh

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PS: This post has been forwarded to relevant people in Varanasi, UP, India.