A week after the death of noted Malayalam writer and cartoonist O V Vijayan in Hyderabad, relatives are fighting over his ashes.
At the centre of the tussle are Vijayan's Christian wife Teresa and their son Madhu on one side and Vijayan's nephew and well-known cartoonist Ravishankar on the other.
Madhu approached the Delhi High Court and has got an injunction that Ravishankar, who performed the last rites in Palakkad in Kerala last week, should preserve Vijayan's ashes and not immerse them.
In his petition, he accused Ravishankar of refusing to part with the ashes "simply in order to draw mileage" since Vijayan was a person with immense recognition and acclaim.
Madhu said in a statement on Thursday that "my mother and I are deeply saddened by the needless spectacle that is being created and look to restoring my father's ashes to their rightful place with the family".
He said he was issuing the statement due to the "sequence of events" that had followed Vijayan's funeral.
"Much to our shock and anguish and against the will of my mother and me, my cousin S G Ravishankar has taken
possession of my father's ashes in spite of the fact that he had no semblance of a relationship with my father for the
last 15 years. Despite repeated requests by my mother and me, he has declined to return the ashes to my family," Madhu said.
