Three days after Israeli tourist's death in Rajasthan, body being flown home without autopsy

Ajmer: The actual reason behind the death of a 38-year-old Israeli tourist who fell ill after eating at a restaurant in Rajasthan's Pushkar will continue to remain a mystery as his body is being taken to Delhi without post-mortem.

The Embassy of Israel has given a letter to the police stating that Israeli customs do not allow autopsy. Also, his relatives have not given their consent for the post-mortem. From Delhi, the body will be flown to Israel in a special flight. At his hometown, the last rites will be performed according to the Israeli tradition.

Chen Yehezkel Persico fell ill after having dinner at a restaurant on Saturday. Preliminary investigations revealed that he was under stress over the Israel-Hamas war. His health had deteriorated in the last few days. He had come to Pushkar from Delhi to offer prayers at Jewish shrine Bedakhbad here.

Hanuman Bakolia, manager of Bedakhabad said after dinner, he spoke to his relatives in Israel on phone and was shocked after hearing about the poor conditions there. After he fell ill, he was taken to the government hospital in Pushkar, from where doctors referred him to JLN Hospital.

His body was kept in the mortuary of JLN Hospital and a prayer was held there, Bakolia said. An official from the Embassy of Israel reached Ajmer from Delhi with an ambulance and a doctor. Now, his body will be taken to Delhi without any post-mortem, he added.

Bakolia said that a distant relative of the tourist was killed in Israel in the recent attack by Hamas following which, Persico was in an extremely gloomy mood. Also he was worried about his family and relatives back home, he added.

He said that the Israeli Embassy officials do not want to do the post-mortem as a result of which the body is being carried to Delhi. A letter in this regard has been given to the police, Bakolia said adding that post-mortem is forbidden as per Israeli customs.

Ajmer Rural CO Manish Badgujar said that the relatives of the Israeli tourists have not given their consent for the post-mortem so the procedure could not be done. An official from the Israeli Embassy has given a letter stating that religious customs not to allow an autopsy, he said.