GHAZIABAD/NEW DELHI, Sep 12: She tried to escape the burning Kathmandu hotel by lowering herself from the fourth floor with the help of a curtain — and her husband’s helping hands. But it was never to be.
Rajesh Gola slipped and fell to her death, the long planned pilgrimage to Pashupatinath temple in the Nepal capital gone horribly wrong for the couple from Ghaziabad. The 55-year-old is the only Indian among the 51 killed in the violent Gen Z protests that raged across Nepal this week.
Two days after the tragedy struck, her husband Rambir Singh Gola was at Sonauli border in the state’s Maharajganj district on Thursday. His wife’s body was brought from Nepal to the border town in Uttar Pradesh in an ambulance and he was waiting to take it home.
Her body was brought to Ghaziabad from Kathmandu via Sonauli border in an ambulance on Friday at their residence in Master Colony in the Nandgram area.
The grieving husband recalled their desperate bid to flee the luxury hotel they had checked into on September 7. The following day, they went to offer prayers at the famed Pashupatinath temple.
And on September 9, the couple decided to go for sightseeing and realised that the unrest had intensified. That’s when they decided to leave and head for the airport only to find it closed.
“When we checked out on September 9, there was a curfew. The airport was closed. Then we increased our stay at the hotel for a day,” Rambir Singh told reporters.
But the hotel was far from the refuge they were hoping it would be. Enraged anti-government protesters set it afire — while the Golas and presumably others were inside.
Rambir said he managed to jump out of the room’s window and narrowly survived but his wife slipped from a curtain he was using to lower her down. She was rushed to a hospital for treatment but died on the way due to excessive bleeding.
On the day that Rajesh died, Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli quit, shortly after hundreds of agitators entered his office demanding his resignation over the deaths during the protest on Monday.
The violence continued even after Oli’s resignation, with protesters setting fire to the Parliament, the President’s Office, the PM’s residence, government buildings, political parties’ offices and homes of senior leaders.
SECURITY FORCES INTENSIFY PATROL
Indian security forces along the Indo-Nepal border have intensified patrols and surveillance here to prevent the entry of inmates who have reportedly escaped from jails in Nepal amidst violent protests and civil unrest.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), police and an additional 400 personnel from the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed in the border regions, including dense forest areas, officials said.Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikas Kumar said the Balrampur district shares a porous 85-kilometre border with Nepal, a significant portion of which is covered by forests.
At the Koilabas checkpost and other forest trails, individuals are being subjected to strict questioning. No one is being allowed to cross into India without valid identification. Additional forces have been stationed at five police stations and 22 SSB outposts along the border.
Drone cameras are also being used for surveillance to prevent any infiltration. Under ‘Operation Kavach’, village security committees have been instructed to immediately report any suspicious individuals to police or other security agencies.
BUS CARRYING INDIANS ATTACKED
An Indian tourist bus returning from the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu was allegedly attacked by protesters amid the ongoing unrest in Nepal, leaving several passengers injured, the bus driver has claimed.
The alleged incident took place on September 9 near Sonauli on the India-Nepal border, when the agitators targeted the bus carrying 49 Indians. Stones were reportedly pelted, shattering windows and injuring passengers, including women and the aged, the driver claimed.
According to reports, the local authorities admitted the injured to a hospital in Kathmandu, while the remaining passengers were flown back to India on a special plane arranged by the Indian Embassy with the help of the Nepalese government.
Talking to reporters in Sonauli here, bus driver Ramu Nishad said: “We were returning after having darshan (at the Pashupatinath temple), when suddenly a mob surrounded our bus and attacked without reason. There were women and elderly people among the passengers, but the protesters did not care.”
67 JAIL ESCAPEES NABBED
Sixty-seven people, including a Bangladeshi national and some Indians, who are suspected to have fled from jails in Nepal during the recent anti-government protests have been apprehended along the international border in various states till now, officials said on Friday.
All of these people, caught by the border guarding force SSB, have been handed over to the local police in respective states.
Some of them have been handed over to the Nepalese border force APF also, they said.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has also issued three 24×7 emergency helpline numbers for Indians who are stranded in Nepal. Helpline no 1903 is operational in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttarakhand apart from two other lines at: 0522-2728816 and 0522-298657, an official said. (PTI)
