A 30-year-old Nigerian, identified as Michael Emenike Madueke, has died in hospital after being found bedridden and malnourished by police in a home in Ghaziabad, a city in India.
According to a report in Telegraph India, the deceased was identified by a Nigerian activist in the capital, who also alleged that the victim was confined and starved by his landlord for eight months over his inability to pay rent.
However, the police said they had not yet found evidence to back up the charge. No external injuries were found by a doctor who first attended to him.
An officer from Nandgram police station said they received a call on emergency number 112 on Saturday afternoon.
“He was living with the family of one Rahul in this flat for three months. The door was not locked when we arrived… His friend Charles Kennedy of Greater Noida and a few other Nigerians were present, and he took him to hospital with our assistance. There is no First Information Report.”
From a video recorded by a group of expatriates known as the Nigerian Citizens Welfare Association, which is headed by Kennedy, Michael’s skin is seen sticking to the deceased person’s shoulder bones.
He is heard saying: “He wants more money every day.”
A man in the house was seen telling police in Hindi: “We fed him, what else do you want? Talk to his friend Rahul Chauhan.”
A woman is heard crying and saying: “Hamne kuchh nahi kiya (We did not do anything).”
The officer added: “Michael did not show us his passport or its soft copy. He said that it has gone for renewal…. Rahul is at fault as he did not inform the police that he sheltered a foreign national. The local intelligence unit (of Ghaziabad police) is verifying his passport and these other details… Rahul is also a tenant.”
The officer said there were checks to be made to ascertain if Michael was in hiding as his passport had expired.
However, Kennedy said the passport might have been “held as ransom”.
The medical director of Ghaziabad’s Apex multi-speciality Hospital, Rajeev Tyagi, attended to Michael first. Tyagi told The Telegraph that Michael’s breathing was laboured, his oxygen saturation was 79, and pulse, 44. The normal values are above 94 and 60 to 100, respectively.
“He was unable to move both legs properly. He was not even able to move from the stretcher to the bed…. It seemed like a neurological disorder such as GuillainBarré syndrome (in which the immune system mistakenly attacks nerves located outside the brain and spinal cord).
“He needed a CT scan or MRI…. He was having edema (fluid retention) in his legs and looking quite malnourished. Either he was not eating properly or not taking a balanced diet. I asked Michael when he had his last meal. He replied that last night he had chicken and rice,” Tyagi said.
He added, “There was no sign of assault. Neither did he (Michael) talk of anything like that.”
Tyagi says that he recommended that he be moved to a more advanced hospital with equipment to treat neurological disorders.
“Charles said that his family is in Mehrauli (South Delhi), and he should be referred to Medics Clinic over there. I said that he is not in a position to be treated in a clinic and he needs a super specialty hospital. He said that if the clinic recommends, then Michael could be moved to AIIMS or Safdarjung (Hospital).
“We arranged an ambulance with oxygen. The driver told me that the patient had a cardiac arrest after 15 minutes after reaching Medics Clinic and expired…. Somebody from Medics Clinic told to shift him to AIIMS mortuary. Two (UP) policemen were in the ambulance,” Tyagi added.
The report from the emergency department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences recorded “MICHEAL” (sic) a 30-year-old male, ‘BROUGHT DEAD, PENDING INVESTIGATION” at 8.08 pm.
No response was received from a phone number given by Kennedy who said it belonged to Rahul, with whom Michael was staying.
Kennedy said Michael’s family in Nigeria had sent Rs 42,000 (N233, 000) in two instalments to Rahul. It is not clear how much Michael owed Rahul.
“We have not filed a formal police complaint yet as we are waiting for what his family and the Nigerian High Commission tell us,” Kennedy said.
