Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai told news agency ANI that the administration has received a picture of Indian student Naveen Shekhargouda Gyanagoudar who died due to shelling in Kharkiv.
Naveen was caught in the conflict after Russian forces announced a military operation against Ukraine and was out shopping for essentials when the shell struck the location earlier on Tuesday evening.
“Naveen’s friends have sent a photo of his body, sending it to MEA to confirm the same. We’re in touch with the Indian embassy so that at least the body is secured. Trying everything possible to bring back the body. Family to be compensated,” Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The government has been in touch with Naveen’s family. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, spoke to the family and expressed his condolences as soon as the news of his demise surfaced.
His friends speaking to News18 said that they woke up to find that Naveen went out to stock up on groceries. They said that it was a Ukrainian woman who found his cellphone and informed his friends of his demise. “I asked a person who understood the native language to translate. That’s when we knew that Naveen had been killed,” Srikanth Channegowda, his friend told CNNNews18.
Naveen’s death has drawn the attention of the world to Ukraine’s Indian and foreign student communities whose parents remained concerned as hostilities escalate. The Karnataka medical student’s death also drew the attention of other nations and Charles Michel, President of the European Council, along with the US embassy in India have tweeted their condolences.
The death of the Karnataka resident has also led to criticism of the government’s response to the situation of stranded Indians in Ukraine.
The government, however, remains steadfast on its target to extract all of its citizens from Ukraine. Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that all Indians have been evacuated from Kyiv.
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, while addressing an electoral rally in Robertsganj in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh said that India displayed its immense strength by extracting its citizens from Ukraine.
However, students in Sumy and Kharkiv remain concerned as these cities face Russian shelling and increase in hostilities. People familiar with the developments told CNNNews18 that a team is present in the Russian city of Belgorod to help with evacuation.
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