Satish Dhupelia, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, has succumbed to coronavirus-related complications here in South Africa, three days after his 66th birthday, a family member said.
Dhupelia's sister Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie confirmed that her brother died on Sunday of COVID-19 related complications after he contracted the disease in hospital where he had been under treatment for a month due to pneumonia.
"My beloved brother has passed on after a month of illness with pneumonia, a superbug contracted in hospital and then COVID-19 also contracted while he was being treated. He suffered a major cardiac arrest this evening," Uma said in a social media post.
Besides Uma, Dhupelia leaves back another sister, Kirti Menon, who lives in Johannesburg, where she is active in various projects honouring the memory of Gandhi. The three siblings are descendants of Manilal Gandhi, who Mahatma left behind in South Africa to continue his work in India after spending two decades in the country.