On Monday, Jama Said, 51, who had travelled to India in April, was found dead -- the robbery victim of a taxi driver and his friends -- in the country’s capital.
His daughter Halima Jama said the father of eight had visited India for specialised treatment at Max Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi.
“My father has been having heart complications and we thought it wise he goes to get checked for a second opinion because the treatment at home was not working. The doctors recommended he be fitted with a device that will make his heart better, and so the treatment took much longer though he was residing in a hotel ever since he landed,” she said.
Mr Jama did not like it in India, as communication was so difficult that he even had a translator.
“After his treatment, we have been trying to book a flight so that he comes back home, but they kept on cancelling the flights due to Covid-19, considering Kenya barred flights to and from India,” Ms Jama explained.
The patient was found to be diabetic, which prolonged treatment, but he still wanted to leave, according to his daughter, who then suggested treatment elsewhere.
“Monday was the third time his ticket was cancelled, we had decided that he flies to Somalia because he used to work there, then find his way home, but upon checking in at the airport he was told to go back as he did not have a Somali passport,” the daughter said.
A frustrated Mr Jama then took a taxi to return to his hotel. On the way there, he was talking to his daughter on the phone as they sought a solution to his predicament.
However, the route the taxi driver followed was not familiar to him.
“I know it because it was the last conversation we had, but now the Indian police are changing the narrative to make it look like there was a confrontation about a 500-rupee fare,” she said.
Dr Ali Hussein, a Kenyan pharmacist based in New Delhi, and a family friend of the Jamas, has been following the case, and told the Nation that the deceased’s skull was broken into two.
“The suspects dumped his body at a hotel close to Delhi Airport after robbing him of all his belongings, save for his phone, for fear of being tracked,” he said.
“The victim’s cell phone, as well as CCTV footage, helped the police to arrest the three suspects (Mr Virender Singh, the cab driver, Mr Gopal Singh and a Mr Dilbagh). They are in custody,” said Mr Rajeev Ranjan, the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), who spoke to the Nation via phone.
“He was to stay at a hotel in Mahipalpur (an area in Delhi). He hired a cab from Terminal 3. Before departing, he sent the taxi’s registration number to his daughter,” the DCP confirmed.
The officers used the victim’s call logs to reach a travel agent who provided his details, while Mr Hussein contacted the Kenyan Mission in Delhi.
“I spoke to the embassy and it’s unfortunate that no one from there has actually gone to check and find out what exactly happened to our beloved brother, while Indian police are busy attempting to cover up,” said the pharmacist.
On Tuesday, the mission in Delhi, in an official statement by Ms Shakila Kassam, issued a ‘no objection certificate’ for Mr Jama to be buried in India.
“The mission received information that the deceased was found unconscious near Centaur Hotel and was declared dead upon arrival at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi. His wife, Muhubo Jama Mohammed, has requested that the body be buried in India,” read the statement from the Kenyan High Commission in India.
Mr Hussein and a few other friends have taken the initiative to give Mr Jama a burial, tentatively, tomorrow (Friday).
“All we hope and pray for is justice to be done. No human being deserves to be treated like this. We hope the Kenyan government will come in because it is their duty to protect Kenyans wherever they are,” he said.
“My heart is torn to shreds. I feel so much pain and anger because I used to talk to my dad all the time, I loved him so much. May his killers never know peace,” said Ms Jama, who lives in Germany.
