BHOPAL: A Sikh family in Indore's Raj Mohalla locality is grappling with the tragic loss of their 29-year-old daughter-in-law, Harpreet Hora, an IT professional, who died in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon.
Harpreet had advanced her travel plans from June 19 to June 12 to surprise her husband Roby Singh Hora on his birthday, which falls on June 16. Roby, an IT professional, is currently working in London.
“She was previously scheduled to fly to London on June 19, but later preponed her trip by a week to celebrate my nephew’s June 16 birthday,” said Rajendra Singh Hora, an Indore resident and uncle of Roby Hora.
Harpreet, originally from Ahmedabad, had married Roby in 2020. Her Indore-based cousin Darshit Hora, an entrepreneur, shared that, “Harpreet was my first cousin and hailed from Ahmedabad. She was married to my distant cousin Roby in Indore in 2020. Roby has been working in London with a reputed company for 2-3 years and Harpreet too had worked there for some time in the past, before returning to India and working in Bengaluru.”
“She had been permitted by her employer company in Bengaluru to work from home, after which she had planned to work from London only,” Darshit added.
At the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where the bodies of the crash victims have been taken, doctors have collected DNA samples from Harpreet’s sister, Simar, to help identify her remains.
“The doctors at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital have taken the DNA samples of Harpreet’s sister Simar on Thursday only. Simar’s DNA samples will be used to identify Harpreet's body from among the disfigured and charred bodies. The doctors have told her parents' family in Ahmedabad that it would take around 72 hours for identifying the body with the help of DNA matching,” Darshit added.
As the family waits for confirmation and the return of her body, the heart-breaking irony remains: Harpreet had merely wanted to be with her husband on his special day.
The Air India plane, which crashed into the hostel of BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital, also killed three medical students, one of whom was Aryan Rajput from MP’s Gwalior district.
Aryan, the youngest among two sons and a daughter of farmer Ramhet Rajput, was a second year MBBS student at BJ Medical College.
The 20-year-old had come home on May 31 to attend a marriage in the family and returned to Ahmedabad two days later. According to Pankaj Singh Kirar, who resides in the same village which also houses Aryan’s family, his mother hasn’t been told about her youngest child’s death.
