Ex-DU Professor Saibaba's family to donate his body to govt medical college

HYDERABAD: The family members of former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba, on Sunday said his body will be donated to the government medical college here, as per his wish. They said his mortal remains would be handed over to the state-run Gandhi Medical College here on October 14. Saibaba (58) died at a state-run hospital here due to post-operative complications, seven months after he was acquitted in an alleged Maoist links case.

The body, which is kept in the mortuary at the NIMS, will be taken to Gun Park on October 14, and from there it will be shifted to his brother's residence here and kept for public homage, the family said adding a condolence meeting will follow. Saibaba was suffering from gall bladder infection and was operated on two weeks ago, but developed complications subsequently. He breathed his last on Saturday. He was admitted to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences(NIMS) for the last 20 days.

Saibaba is survived by wife and daughter. "That has always been his (Saibaba) wish (donate my body). We have already donated his eyes to LV Prasad Eye Institute (in Hyderabad) and his body will also be donated tomorrow," Saibaba's daughter Manjeera told PTI Videos. Manjeera said they did not expect this (Saibaba's death). He was recovering from his gall bladder operation. She recalled that the last time she spoke with her father was the day before evening and he told that it was going to be fine.

"None of us, not even he could have anticipated something like this would have happened." According to her, the family members were hoping that Saibaba would recover and come back. "... he got COVID twice... his health condition was abysmal in jail. He still could make it. So, we were hoping for another miracle to happen, it did not happen this time. His body had borne too much all these years,” Manjeera said.

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“I miss him. I still cannot believe he is not with us. I still feel that I will go and open the door and he will be there sitting on his wheelchair telling me to do this and that. I still feel that way. I still feel that he is still with us,” she said. She said they were aware that his condition was severe since Saturday afternoon but at around 8 PM the doctors told the family that his heart stopped beating and they were trying to perform CPR on him.

They pronounced him dead at 8.30 last night, Saibaba's daughter added. In March, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court acquitted Saibaba and five others in the alleged Maoist links case, noting that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against him. The court also set aside his life sentence. It had held as "null and void" the sanction procured by the prosecution to charge the accused under provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Following his acquittal, the wheelchair-bound Saibaba walked out of the Nagpur Central Jail after 10 years. Saibaba had alleged in August this year that he was not taken to a hospital for nine months by authorities despite the left side of his body getting paralysedand was just given painkillers in the Nagpur Central Jail, where he was lodged since his arrest in the case in 2014.

The former English professor had claimed that he was "kidnapped" and arrested by the police in order to silence his voice. A native of Andhra Pradesh, Saibaba had said that he was warned by the authorities that if he did not stop "talking" he would be arrested in some false case.