A senior bureaucrat from Meghalaya was found dead in a hotel room in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has condoled the death, while the state government is coordinating closely with the Indian Embassy in the Central Asian country to facilitate the repatriation of his body.

Syed Md A Razi, Principal Secretary of Meghalaya’s Public Health Engineering (PHE) and Public Works Department (PWD), was on a personal holiday and had been in the Central Asian country since April 4.

Advertisement

Local officials in Bukhara informed that the hotel staff broke open the door to his room after repeated calls went unanswered on Monday morning.

Preliminary indications suggest he may have suffered a cardiac arrest, although the exact cause of death is yet to be officially confirmed.

The Meghalaya government is coordinating closely with the Indian Embassy in Uzbekistan to facilitate the repatriation of Razi’s body. His wife, Shefali S Andaleeb, has flown to Bukhara to oversee the formalities.

Razi was a 1996-batch officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS). He had been posted in Shillong after his wife, a senior official with the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS), was transferred to the Accountant General’s office in Meghalaya.

Condolences have poured in from across the political and bureaucratic spectrum. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma offered a heartfelt tribute, “Razi’s incredible efficiency and unwavering dedication were evident in every department he handled. He took on each task with a level of ownership that inspired those around him. But beyond his work ethic, Razi was a warm, jolly soul who brought light to everyone he met. He was deeply loved and respected by his peers. His absence leaves a profound void in all of us. My thoughts and deepest condolences go out to his family and loved ones. Rest in peace, dear Razi.”

This incident marks the second sudden loss of a senior Meghalaya bureaucrat in recent times. In October 2023, Manjunatha C, an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer serving as Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, died alone at his official residence in Shillong, also reportedly due to cardiac arrest. His wife was away in Karnataka at the time.