"Don't cry mom. Dad is not here now. Granddad has taken him away to heaven. We are not going to ever see him. But I am here."
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Three-year-old Nihaar Mohanlal wipes away the tears from his mother’s face, saying, “Don’t cry mom. Dad is not here now. Granddad has taken him away to heaven. We are not going to ever see him. But I am here.”
Battling to come to terms with the loss of Naresh Mohanlal, a Howick businessman whose body was found in Midmar Dam on Thursday, after he went missing on Tuesday, his family are no closer to the truth as to how he died and are awaiting the results of an autopsy.
With the picturesque Midmar Dam as their backyard scenery, the Mohanlal family, who own a supermarket in the close-knit Midlands town, has more questions than answers.
The dead man’s widow, Raakhee, 35, says life will never be the same again.
“Every morning when I opened my door, Naresh and I would admire the beauty of the dam. Now when I look at it, I will remember that is where Naresh’s life came to an end. I want answers and I need closure. I have to know what happened to him. We cannot go through life with his death as a mystery to us.”
On Tuesday, when Naresh didn’t return home after work, his wife became concerned.
“We were very close. The children and I were his number one priority. We knew where the other one was and I always expected him home at a certain time. I last spoke to him on Tuesday just before he closed the supermarket, asking him to bring a loaf of bread home. He said he would do so and was on his way home shortly. When he did not come home by 6pm, I became concerned and called him. He didn’t answer. I think I must have called his phone about 20 times in the hope of him answering. I then got his brothers involved. By 10pm, we went out looking for him. We searched the entire area and then, when we were giving up hope, I found his car and called his brothers. His car was found abandoned, but locked, with all his belongings in it, about a kilometre away from our home,” said Raakhee.
Still she kept hope alive, believing that she would find her husband soon.
That night, the family and community got together a group of more than 80 people and searched for Mohanlal, to no avail. By Thursday, the group, having searched most areas, focused on the dam with the help of the police search and rescue unit.
“Just half an hour before they found his body they sent me home, but our children were still there. A relative, Ricky Jagessaur, suddenly had an instinct as to where to go to at the dam. He got into the water and soon found Naresh’s body. He said a prayer and they brought the body to shore. This has been really traumatic. We have not slept, or eaten, or done anything else since that Tuesday evening,” said Raakhee.
Mohanlal’s brother, Audesh, said the family was trying to find answers. He ruled out suicide as he said his brother had “everything to live for”.
“We are a well-off family. We do not have financial problems. We have no bonds, our houses are freehold and we have so many vehicles. Naresh’s business was thriving and he had his beautiful family to come home to. A few weeks ago we had a family get-together and he was as happy as everyone else. We planned to go to the South Coast for his birthday in two weeks and then he was taking his family to India in March.
“There was no indication that he had any problems. And if he did, I would have known. We shared a close bond,” said Audesh.
Police spokesman Captain Lolly Moodley said an inquest docket had been opened to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mohanlal’s death.
“His car keys were found in his pocket and all his belongings were in his car. There are no signs of a robbery or hijacking. Foul play is not suspected at this stage,” said Moodley.
Naresh’s funeral was held on Friday and his ashes buried at his mother’s grave at a Howick cemetery yesterday. He leaves behind his wife, and children NeoNita, 16, Nikita, 14, and Nihaar, 3. - Tribune
niyanta.singh@inl.co.za