Missing Infosys employee died in Brussels attack

An Infosys employee from Bengaluru, missing since the deadly bombings in Brussels, was among those killed in the terror attack last week.

“The Belgian authorities have identified Raghavendran Ganeshan as one of the victims of the Brussels Terror Attack of March 22,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. Ganeshan was a victim of the blast that took place in the Metro at Maelbeek station in Brussels.

“The body is on its way to India via Amsterdam. Sincere condolences to the family,” Indian Ambassador to Belgium Manjeev Singh Puri was quoted as saying on Monday.

Infosys condoled the death of Ganeshan and said it will provide all possible support to the family. “…Our thoughts and prayers are with Raghavendran’s family and with those who were injured or lost a loved one in these attacks… We will continue to provide all possible support to his family in this hour of grief,” a company spokesperson said.

Raghvedran, 31, is survived by his wife and a one-month-old baby. He was working at Brussels for last four years on a project with telecom major Proximus. The family, originally from Tamil Nadu, moved to Mumbai several years ago. After he completed his junior college from Mumbai, Raghvendran went to Chennai to study engineering from where he was picked by Infosys during campus placements. He was passing through the Maelbeek station in the Metro like every day to reach his office when the terror attack took place.

This is not the first time an Indian IT firm has lost its employee in a terror attack. In September 2001, six engineers of Wipro, who were working at the World Trade Centre in New York, died when the Twin Towers collapsed after the worst-ever terror attack on American soil.

In December 2014, an Infosys employee was taken hostage among many others by armed terrorists in Sydney. However, he and the other Indian hostage managed to escape unhurt during the rescue operation.

“It is extremely sad when you lose somebody so dear. Employees of our organisations are literally a part of our extended family,” said B V R Mohan Reddy, chairman of Nasscom. “We as an industry have taken a number of precautionary measures but there are instances (like terror attacks) which we can’t avoid,” he added.