The body of Sabina Sehgal Saikia, a consulting editor with the Times of India, was today consigned to flames at the Lodhi Road cremation grounds in New Delhi. The body of Sabina, who was trapped on the sixth floor of the Taj Hotel during the Mumbai terrorist attacks, was discovered on Saturday among a pile of bodies in a section of the hotel.
Sabina had been SMSing her family and friends till past Wednesday midnight, after which they lost contact with her. A massive fire gutted major portions of the floor she was in. Till late Friday night, her husband Shantanu Saikia, a journalist with the Financial Express, was "hoping against hope" that she would be found alive.
Sabina, a noted food critic and a former editor of the Delhi Times, had gone to the hotel late on Wednesday to attend a wedding when terrorists stormed the hotel, firing at guests and holding several hostage. Shantanu Saikia said on TV on Friday that he had had no contact with her since early Thursday morning.
"I received the last SMS from her at 0130 hrs IST (Thursday). It her last SMS and she was very worried," Shantanu said. "The SMS was sent to Taj's PRO as well." About 20 minutes prior to that, hotel employees received an SMS from her which said ''they are in my bathroom."
Sabina did not suffer any burn injury, and nor did her body bear any bullet marks. She is suspected to have died of asphyxiation. Sabina's body was flown to the capital on Saturday night and brought to her south Delhi home.
The Saikias have two children—a 14-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son.
