The tragic death of a 33-year-old Indian seafarer in Venezuela has become a horrifying international mystery. During Rakesh Chauhan’s return to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh, a second local autopsy conducted by district officials found virtually every major internal organ of the body, including his brain, heart, and lungs, missing.
The shocking finding has galvanized the Federation of Seafarers' Unions of India (FSUI) to launch a fierce campaign demanding immediate intervention from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the Indian Embassy in Venezuela, and a transparent criminal investigation.
The Deoria Post-Mortem Findings
According to the official re-autopsy report conducted by a medical team in Uttar Pradesh, the following anomalies were detailed:
- Extensive Prior Alterations: The body arrived with 22 surgical stitches running from neck to pubic symphysis and 21 stitches stretching from ear to ear across the back of the head.
- Complete organ absence: The brain, meninges, heart, coronary arteries, lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, stomach, intestines, trachea, larynx, and thyroid were completely absent.
- Cause of death: "Could not be determined" due to the complete anatomical hollowing of the remains.
- The body had been kept deep-frozen for nearly a month before his family came to him.
Conflicting stories and family discord. Chauhan, who lived in Lagda Bazar Tola in Deoria, left for Venezuela in November 2025 to work aboard a merchant navy vessel. His deployment was led by a private maritime recruitment agency called Xfinity.
⚠️ SHOCKING CASE — Indian Seafarer #RakeshChauhan reported dead in #Venezuela.
— FSUI (@FSUIINDIA) June 30, 2026
Mortal remains sent back to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh without any autopsy report or details from Venezuelan authorities.
Family demanded re-autopsy. The official Post-Mortem Report conducted in… pic.twitter.com/4dGSZtPEfp
Ram Dev Chauhan, Rakesh’s father, told us over and over, the family was repeatedly lied to about the reason behind the death of Rakesh. The company initially contacted the family in a phone call to say Chauhan suffered serious injuries from an accident on the ship and was in medical care, he said. That morning they were told he was going to die, there was more than a 95% chance that he would not survive and that evening he was confirmed dead.
However, the company later said he died due to cardiac arrest, and questions were raised about the conflicting timelines. The company also promised that the body would be back in a week, but it took nearly a month for the remains to reach Deoria on June 4. Local medical staff at first refused to touch the body because of the stark presence of autopsy stitches, leading the DM to order the second post-mortem.
FSUI demands accountability from foreign authorities. Although it is standard forensic practice in the world for certain tissue samples or whole organs to be temporarily removed during a primary autopsy for toxicology and histopathology testing, the total removal of all anatomical structures without a forensic report has raised global alarm bells. The Venezuelan government and Xfinity neither provided the family an official autopsy transcript, death certificate details, or a summary of the circumstances on board the vessel.
On social media platform X, the FSUI strongly criticized the treatment of Indian workers abroad:
"This is unacceptable. Seafarers are becoming scapegoats. We demand a full investigation and accountability from Venezuelan authorities, immediate intervention by the Indian Embassy in Venezuela, a complete autopsy report, circumstances of death, and justice and compensation for the family."
The family continues to ask the Indian government to conduct high-level diplomatic investigations of the corporate operators and foreign authorities involved in the matter and give answers to the death that has left the whole community in shock.
