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April 12, 2001
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Money > Business Headlines > Report April 12, 2001 |
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Mehta spent his last hours with cousinPriya Ganapati in Bombay An evening with the Indian community in Sydney and a night with his family were probably the last memories of Dewang Mehta, the president of the National Association of Software and Service companies. Head of the apex body of the Indian software industry and its most ardent lobbyist, Mehta passed away on Thursday in Sydney, Australia. Mehta was in Sydney as part of a delegation of technology experts who had accompanied IT Minister Pramod Mahajan. Mahajan was there on an invitation extended by the Australian infotech minister. Staying at the Park Hyatt in Sydney along with Mahajan and the rest of the delegation, Mehta spent a pleasant evening at a dinner hosted by the Indian community in Sydney. After the dinner, at around 10.30 pm on Wednesday evening, Mehta was taken by his cousin, Rupal Mehta, to her residence. Mehta spent the night with Rupal and her husband Sanjay at their residence in Sydney. On Thursday morning, Mehta was slated to check out by 11.30 a.m. and catch the flight back home. But he missed his flight. "Initially, we thought that he had not come back from his cousin's place. But then today evening, at around 5 pm the hotel staff informed us that he had been found dead in his bed. The hotel tried to contact him after 3.00 pm, but when they failed to get a response they entered the room," Sudhir Kumar, acting consul general of the Indian Commission in Sydney told rediff.com. Kumar refused to state whether there was any foul play in the manner in which Mehta was found dead. "After preliminary investigations, the police have ruled out any reasons for suspicion. The cause of death appears to be a heart attack. However, investigations are still on," he said. Not clear when the body would be flown to India Mehta's body has been taken to a morgue at Glebe in Sydney. It is not yet clear when the body will be released. Kumar assured that efforts were on to ensure that the body could be flown back to India as soon as possible. "It is a long weekend here in Sydney with holiday on Friday and Monday. So it is difficult to say when the body will be released. But we are trying our best to ensure that it can be sent back to India. IT minister Mr Pramod Mahajan, too, has indicated that he wants the body to be released at the earliest," Kumar said. Dewang Mehta's body would be handed over either to his cousin, Rupal Mehta, or to the Indian consulate in Sydney after the local formalities are complete. "Whom the body is handed over to is just a matter of formality and will be dealt with as soon as we can get the local authorities to release it," Kumar said. Meanwhile, Harish Sinha, personal assistant to IT Minister Pramod Mahajan, said from Australia: "Mr Mehta's body may not be sent to India on Thursday night as the local coroner has said that he would decide about this only on Friday."
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