The body of a Gujarat fisherman, who had died under mysterious circumstances in a Pakistan jail, was flown to Mumbai from where it was taken to his native village, state fisheries department has said.
"A Pakistan airlines flight carrying the remains had landed in Mumbai yesterday afternoon and following formalities, the officials of the fisheries department are on their way to Kishor Makwana's native village Kob in Junagadh.
They left Mumbai last night," Gujarat Chief Fisheries Commissioner P L Darbar told PTI today.
The Gujarat government has made all arrangements for transporting the body to Makwana's native place, he said.
Earlier, Makwana's family had approached the Centre and top Congress leaders to help them travel to Pakistan to find out if he was alive.
There were two versions about Makwana, who was captured by Pakistani maritime authorities on January 27, 2012 for allegedly "illegally" entering into their territorial waters.
The version put out by official channels of Pakistan, India and Gujarat governments, said the 21-year-old died in Ladli jail in Karachi on February 4.
The youth's family members said while they were waiting for the body to arrive, they received a letter, dated February 14, from another inmate of the same jail saying Makwana was fine.
"We were waiting for Kishor's body to arrive from Pakistan, when we received the letter from Chauhan, informing us that Kishor was fine," his brother Harish Makwana had earlier said.
Chauhan wrote that Kishor had escaped from the jail, but was captured again after ten months. "Both of us are in Pakistan's Ladi jail," Harish said, quoting the letter.
Therefore, his family wanted to visit the jail and talk to authorities to find out if Kishor is dead or alive.
In this regard, they had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, requesting them to facilitate their visit to Pakistan.
Veljibhai Masani, senior vice president of Gujarat Fishermen Association (GFA), had said the Pakistani government in its official communication had not given the cause of Kishor's death, but alleged that he was assaulted.