Jiban Patra, aged 41, originally from Balasore, Odisha, India visiting USA, as a member of Bollywood star Ms Priyanka Chopra’s troupe, was found dead in a Los Angeles Beverly Hills hotel on Sunday, 7th April. He is survived by wife Minakshi and two children, who are in Mumbai. Jiban couldn’t accompany Ms. Priyanka Chopra’s team to Vancouver because he didn’t have a Canadian Visa and was staying in Hotel. Per Ms. Natasha Pal, who is Priyanka Chopra’s team manager in USA, they came to learn about Jiban’s death after their return from Vancouver and subsequently contacted the wife of the deceased Mrs. Minakshi Patra, through Ms. Chopra’s secretary in India on 8th April 2013.
Ms. Pal also informed that the cause of death is heart attack and they obtained necessary legal authorization from the deceased’s family to send deceased’s body to Mumbai, which is currently under the custody of Beverly Hill Police Station vide Case number 013-13607;this case is currently under investigation by Joyce M. Kato, investigator at Los Angeles County Coroner. Jiban’s untimely death is a big blow to the ill fated family as he was the sole bread earner in the family; earlier his elder brother had died in his village 4 years ago leaving behind wife and two kids.
His father also had a heart attack and died last year. As per Jiban’s cousins Deepak Patra from Plano, Texas, USA and Amulya Patra from Danville, California, Jiban had left Balasore at a young age for Mumbai in search of a job. For a while, he worked for Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai and Karan Johar. Recently, he had been working for Priyanka Chopra as a free lancer. Per Deepak and Amulya, Jiban was very down to earth, honest, hard working and ambitious person. Whenever he came to USA, he never forgot to keep in touch with them. Jiban worked hard for his living with which he supported his family in Mumbai , his deceased brother's family, his mother in Odisha and got his two sisters married.
Now his family in India is helpless without any male member. The President of the Orissa Society of the Americas (OSA) Ms. Annapurna Pandey and the President of Telugu Association of North America (TANA) Mr. Prasad Thotakura have contacted Indian Consulate office and Odisha government officials to extend help. They are in touch with Ms. Natasha Pal to ensure that the deceased’s body is sent to India as soon as possible. The ‘Jiban Patra Fund’ has been setup by non-profit organization The Orissa Society of Americas to extend financial help to the deceased’s family; generous donations from Indian and American community are accepted.
