Blast cuts short his winning battle against cancer

MUMBAI: Nathmal Saboo, 64, was fighting throat cancer for the past three months. Extensive chemotherapy sessions and medication were beginning to show positive results. However, his battle against cancer was cut short by the blast that ripped through a local train at Mahim station on July 11.

 

Son Subhash Saboo said, “For the last three months, dad was undergoing chemotherapy and, hence, had taken a break from office. But he didn’t like sitting idle at home and decided to go to office that day. I tried to convince him that he didn’t need to work anymore. I felt he could join my business, to which he had agreed, saying he would do so from the coming Saturday. I dropped him at Andheri station from where he took a train to Churchgate. All along I kept telling him not to go.”

 

Nathmal, who worked as an accountant at Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora’s office for almost three decades, would usually leave office by 7pm. However, that day he left around 5.30pm.

 

His younger son Santosh said, “When we heard of the news, we frantically tried to contact him, but he could not be reached on his mobile. We called his office and were told that he had left.” Santosh then went looking for his father and found his charred body at Sion Hospital. He couldn’t recognise his father’s face. Nathmal’s identity was established with his identity card.

 

Nathmal was known to be a workaholic. HV Nathan, Murli Deora’s public relations officer, said, “Nathmal was a quiet person who preferred to absorb himself in work. Though he worked in a political environment, he always kept away from politics.”