Thiruvananthapuram: Stephen Walt Richter, the 76-year-old US citizen, who died at Kovalam after an accident while swimming in the sea on Saturday, had made India his second home.An inmate of an ashram at Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand since 2003 he had also acquired a temporary Aadhaar and PAN card.Three days ago, he arrived at Kovalam along with two of his friends from the ashram. Tragedy struck when he got trapped in the waves and hit his head on the rocks of the beach while taking a swim in the sea around 9am on Saturday.Although life guards at the beach brought him to the shore, his life could not be saved.“There were two deep wounds on his forehead and it was the smashing of his forehead against the rocks that led to his death,” said Kovalam SI Vidhyadhiraj P K.“He was rushed to Medical College Hospital but could not be saved. The body after post-mortem is being kept at a private hospital. We have contacted the American Embassy and a full report has been forwarded. Once the paper works gets completed, the body will be handed over,” said the officer.Two of his friends who accompanied him from the ashram for the trip to the city were with him during the accident. The police said he had no relatives in the US.Richter, who had also worked as a transcendental meditation teacher, enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest and had been travelling to ashrams around the world.In his Facebook post, he had shared how life had been for the past 16 years.“I guess I’m getting too old for the Himalayan winters, so I’m a Himalayan snowbird! simple Purusha life here in India. Also spent a month in Russia at Purusha Ashram in Crimea,” he said in response to a comment on Facebook. His profile also revealed him to be a deeply spiritual person.He had taken a special liking for the Himalayas and had posted a picture of the mountain ranges and wrote, “This is where I had lived”.

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