Nithin Chandran was planning to join his wife Athira Geetha Sreedharan in Kerala, to be with her when she gives birth to their first child. He, however, passed away in his sleep on June 8 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A day later, Athira gave birth to a baby girl, unaware that the newborn’s father will never be able to see them.
Athira, who had moved the Supreme Court to allow her to travel from UAE to Kerala for her delivery, gave birth on Tuesday at a private hospital in Kozhikode district. According to reports, she had a caesarean delivery. She was due in July.
A Dubai-based friend known to the couple told TNM that the Athira has not been informed about Nithin’s death. “It was based on doctor’s advice, in order to avoid any panic,” he said.
It was exactly a month after seeing off Athira on the Indian’s government’s first repatriation flight from UAE to India that Nithin passed away due to a cardiac arrest. He passed away in his sleep at their residence in Dubai. According to reports, Nithin had a heart condition and was undergoing treatment for high blood pressure.
Nithin was actively involved in repatriation efforts in Dubai and had helped many people board flights back home.
His samples were posthumously tested for COVID-19 via rapid antibody testing. Once it returned negative, the procedure to repatriate his body to Kerala had begun.
“The body is likely to be repatriated on Wednesday, provided the availability of the flight,” the friend said.
While Nithin was working as a mechanical engineer with a construction company, Athira works as an electronics and communication engineer at an IT company. Nithin had been working in Dubai for the last six years, while Athira joined him two years ago, after their wedding.
Athira had approached the Supreme Court in April, stating that since her husband was working, no relative was there in Dubai to take care of her during the lockdown period, and hence she needed to travel to her native in Kozhikode.
In an interview to Manoj Viswanathan of The New Indian Express, Nithin had said it was the plight of stranded expatriates, especially those with health issues, that prompted the couple to take the legal recourse.
In fact Nithin, who was actively involved in various voluntary work in Dubai, too, had written about how many expatriates, including pregnant women, have been stranded in the Middle East countries, just a day before he died too.