3 min readBengaluruUpdated: Sep 8, 2026 05:37 PM IST
Family members perform final rites of victims of the Nepal flash floods at Pashupati Aarey Ghat in Kathmandu on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
“We have reached Gyirong Port and will leave in a few minutes. We will be reaching Kathmandu by evening.” Rakesh Naik informed his wife, who was in Australia, around 4 am (Nepal time) on August 26. But 12 days later, the family has no information about the 38-year-old who went missing in Nepal after the devastating floods.
On Monday, Rakesh Naik’s family members in Karnataka’s Dharwad submitted their DNA samples at the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory in Hubballi, hoping either to see him alive or, at least, get his dead body. The families of eight flood victims from the state have so far provided samples for DNA matching.
Rakesh was part of an Isha Foundation team on a Kailash Mansarovar trip. An automobile engineer, he lived in Australia with his wife Subhadra Hasalkar and their two girl children, six and four years old.
Subhadra’s brother Harsha said the family had visited Delhi and Nepal in search of Rakesh. “The last call traced to Rakesh was from Gyirong Port on the China-Nepal border, where the immigration office is located. We stayed in Nepal for four days but did not get any information. We have been told that Rakesh went missing on the China side. They have not shared much information about the tragedy. We have not received any information from the Isha Foundation. We met the families of the victims during our visit in Nepal. All are in anguish,” he said.
The family later submitted details of Rakesh after receiving a letter from China asking for them. His brother-in-law Praveen said, “Rakesh Naik reached Delhi on August 12, and he was part of the S3 batch. He was returning after a Mansarovar trip.”
The S3 batch had 77 pilgrims from the Isha Foundation, three volunteers, and a doctor. There were 46 women and 34 men, including Rakesh. Fifty-three of the pilgrims were of Indian origin, and the others were from 19 countries.
Rakesh was supposed to reach Kathmandu by early morning and take an evening flight to Delhi to return to Australia.
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Subhadra and her children reached Dharwad after Rakesh went missing.
DNA profiling at Bowring Hospital
The DNA profiling of first-degree relatives of Karnataka people reported missing in Nepal is carried out at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, Bengaluru. Dr Nagesh Kuppast of the forensic medicine department is the nodal officer for the process.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Dr Nagesh said that reports from the forensic science laboratory would be shared with the authorities in Nepal and China, who would match the relatives’ samples with those taken from the flood victims’ bones, teeth, tissues or hair.
“As it is a computerised process, it would not be a tough task to conduct DNA profiling,” he added.
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S Honnamba, commissioner of the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority, said people reported missing in 23 of the 30 complaints had returned to the state.
“Each complaint has multiple people. Some of them were not from Karnataka as well. We are waiting for further information,” she added.