Dubai: It was a solemn affair as the last rites of Raghu Shivram Shetty, an Indian who worked with a Dubai hotel, were performed at the Sonapur Crematorium in Dubai on May 16.
The cremation was attended by around 20 people, including members of the Shetty community, the Indian mission, social workers and former colleagues.
Shetty, who had come to Dubai in the early 2000s, allegedly committed suicide on July 31, 2009, but with no known relatives in the UAE or even back home in India, his body had been lying unclaimed at the Sonapur mortuary for 11 months.
"The Indian Consulate sought our help to trace Shetty's family, but despite our best efforts, it has proved difficult," said C.P. Mathew, spokesperson for Valley of Love, a Dubai-based NGO which enlisted the support of the Shetty community and others in its search.
He said despite the availability of Shetty's photograph and passport, last renewed in Mumbai in 2002, there was little evidence of any links with the available address or names.
Untraceable
Every sketchy bit of information collected from colleagues and others was explored, including allegations that he had left his home in Udupi in the southern Indian state of Karnataka as a 10-year-old after being in an orphanage in Mumbai, said Mathew.
However, with no evidence emerging over the past 11 months, clearances to perform the last rites of the body were obtained from the Indian Consulate, immigration authorities and the Dubai Police, said Mathew.
He added that leaders of the Hindu Cremation Committee had waived the Dh2,000 cremation fee, while the Shetty community paid for the other charges.
Blood samples of unclaimed bodies are kept by the mortuary for DNA matching with relatives in case the latter show up in future.
