October
20 - London 2012 has warned that it will be forced to perform the last
rites for deceased National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Nepal official
Man Bahadur Lopchan if the kin does not respond to calls.Lopchan (pictured top), who was senior office driver at the NPC, died in London on September 18, shortly after the conclusion of the Paralympics, following a suicide attempt a week earlier at the Games.
London 2012 informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) that it would be forced to perform the last rites of Lopchan, who died at the age of 45, if they did not hear anything from the kin.
The body of Lopchan has been lying stranded for over three weeks in London after his family member in his native Kathmandu refused to receive it, demanding a probe into what they called a "mysterious" death.
Lopchan died of hypoxic brain injury and suspension while undergoing treatment at Royal London Hospital.
The body is now with Rowland Brothers International, which provides mortuary facilities, although they are trying to make arrangements with a company called Sherpa and Swiss Adventure to ferry the body to Kathmandu.
However, its efforts have failed as the kin of the deceased has 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 a 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 his death as an attempted murder and have maintained that he was murdered after he raised the issue of irregularities within his NPC.
"We will not let those behind the murder go scot-free," said his son Santa Bahadur Lopchan.
"There is no point in receiving the dead body as long as there is no guarantee of action against the guilty."
His son continued that the NPC 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.
NPC chairman Surendra Bahadur Basnet, who was part of Nepalese delegation at London 2012, refuted claims that the death was mysterious.
"The family members had agreed to receive the dead body initially," he said.
"But they changed their mind after our rival NPC incited them to do so."
(Source : www.insidethegames.biz)
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