New Delhi: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s sister Gita Mehta’s mortal remains were consigned to flames at Lodhi Road Cremation Ground in New Delhi Monday.
In the presence of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, his brother Prem Patnaik and other relatives, Mehta’s son Aditya Singh Mehta lighted the funeral pyre. Numerous prominent individuals gathered at her residence on Abdul Kalam Road and paid their last respects.
Mehta died Saturday at her Delhi residence. She was 80. Mehta is survived by her son. Her publisher husband Sonny Mehta had predeceased her.
Naveen Patnaik Sunday landed in New Delhi to be a part of his late sister’s funeral.
“I am here due to the sad demise of my elder sister, who was a well-known author and filmmaker,” Patnaik told reporters in the national capital.
An eminent author, documentary filmmaker and journalist, Gita was the sister of Naveen Patnaik and industrialist Prem Patnaik.
Born in 1943 to Biju Patnaik and Gyan Patnaik in Delhi, she studied in India and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
She has penned books including ‘Karma Cola’, ‘Snake and Ladders’, ‘A River Sutra’, ‘Raj’ and ‘The Eternal Ganesha’.
Mehta, sources said, was very close to her younger brother Naveen Patnaik.
During her earlier visit to Bhubaneswar, she had told reporters that “people of Odisha are fortunate enough to have a Chief Minister like Naveen Patnaik”.
PNN
