The Forward Seafarers’ Union of India has sought intervention from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Venezuela after the body of Indian seafarer Rakesh Chauhan was returned from Venezuela with major internal organs missing.
Chauhan, 33, from Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh, was working as a fitter aboard the Palau-flagged oil tanker MT Eliak. He had been sent by Navi Mumbai-based Xfinity Maritime Services.
According to the company, Chauhan died of cardiac arrest in Venezuela in May 2026. His family said the body was returned without a post-mortem report or an explanation from Venezuelan authorities on the circumstances of his death.
After the body reached his hometown on 4 June 2026, the family contacted the Forward Seafarers’ Union of India. The union advised them to arrange an official post-mortem in India.
The examination was conducted at the Post Mortem House in Deoria by Dr. Piyush Kumar Singh, Dr. Vineet Kumar Singh and Dr. Shambhu Prasad. The report was issued on 7 June 2026.
The post-mortem recorded long stitched incisions from the neck to the pubic region and across the back of the head. It also stated that the body had been kept in deep freeze from 7 May to 5 June 2026.
Doctors found that the meninges, blood vessels, brain, heart, both lungs, coronary arteries, stomach, intestines, spleen, kidneys, gall bladder, thyroid, hyoid bone, larynx, trachea, pleural cavity, pericardium and major blood vessels were missing.
The report said the cause of death could not be determined because the organs were absent. It also noted that there were no ante-mortem injuries.
The Forward Seafarers’ Union of India has called for a full investigation, accountability from Venezuelan authorities, and the release of the original autopsy report.
