The Madras High Court today directed the external affairs ministry to issue necessary travel documents within 24 hours to bring the body of a history-sheeter, who died in Cambodia, to his hometown in Tamil Nadu.
Passing orders on a petition by the daughter of Sridhar, who reportedly committed suicide in Phnom Penh on October 4, Justice M S Ramesh directed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to complete the process of issuing the documents within 24 hours from receipt of copy of his order.
He also ordered it to facilitate all such formalities that may be required for the purpose of shifting the body of Sridhar to his home town Kancheepuram.
Sridhar, proclaimed as an absconding offender by a Kancheepuram court, was facing 25 criminal cases besides money laundering cases by the Enforcement Directorate.
The Judge issued the order after Assistant Solicitor General Su Srinivasan submitted that the MEA did not have any objection in executing the necessary travel documents for the purpose of bringing the body of Sridhar.
Earlier, when the matter came up in the morning it was informed by the Centre's counsel that Sridhar had travelled under a Sri Lankan visa to Cambodia and his passport had been impounded by the ED in 2015.
Petitioner Dhanalakshmi had prayed for a direction to the Kancheepuram District Collector and Superintendent of Police to issue a positive communication to Indian High Commission in Cambodia, enabling it to take steps to bring the body of her father to India.
She submitted that the high commission had sought such a communication for processing the family's request for help in bringing his body home since he was not in possession of a valid passport at the time of his death.
She said her father was an Indian citizen and died at a hospital in Phnom Penh due to 'cardiac arrest'.
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