What Odisha Man Told His Mother Before He Died Protecting Israeli Tourist

The 29-year-old Odisha man, who died protecting two women from sexual assault in Karnataka's Koppal district, had promised to meet his mother on March 10 in Agra, a family member said.

Bibhas Nayak, an HR manager at St Stephen's Hospital in New Delhi, made the promise two days before his death in Koppal. Mr Nayak was thrown into a canal on March 6 while protecting two women - one of whom was a 27-year-old Israeli national - from sexual assault.

The Karnataka police found his body on Saturday morning, around two kilometres from the location of the murder.

Mr Nayak was the only son of BK Nayak, the bishop of the Agra diocese and moderator of the Church of North India (CNI) Synod. He was an avid traveller who cycled through various Indian states. He was originally from Derabadi village in the Kandhamal region of Odisha.

His family learned that he was visiting Karnataka. Mr Nayak's mother called him two days before the atrocity, requesting that he come to Agra.

"He assured his mother he would visit on Monday (March 10)," Mr Nayak's brother-in-law Akash Paul said, as per The Times Of India.

"We can't believe he is no more. All the family members are shocked by his untimely demise," he added.

Mr Nayak developed friendships with several other tourists while in Karnataka, including an Israeli woman, a man from the US, a female homestay operator, and a man from Maharashtra.

They were stargazing by a canal in Hampi on the night when three men approached them. Mr Nayak stepped in to protect the women.

The attackers, however, overpowered him and threw him into the canal. Mr Nayak drowned, but his two male friends managed to escape.

Mr Nayak attended Stewart School in Bhubaneswar before relocating to Chennai to pursue higher education. He graduated from Madras Christian College with a BBA and then earned his MBA from Mumbai.

Family and neighbours came together to grieve at his funeral on Sunday in Kandhamal's G Udayagiri town. "We can only pray that such crimes never happen again," Mr Nayak's brother-in-law said.