Mortal remains of Biharis killed in Iraq brought to Patna; CM announces ex gratia

Mortal remains of five people from Bihar, who were among 39 Indians killed by ISIS militants in Iraq, were brought here late tonight by Union minister General V K Singh by a special aircraft.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and other members of the state cabinet received the bodies at the airport and laid wreaths at the coffins.

Kumar announced ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of each of the deceased.

Talking to reporters, General Singh said, We have brought the mortal remains of five persons whose DNAs have matched 100 per cent with the samples sent from here.

 

"There is another deceased, Raju Yadav, whose DNA has matched about 70 per cent and the Iraqi authorities did not hand over the mortal remains on this ground. But we hope a breakthrough will come within five or ten days.

The Centre has made all possible efforts to identify, at the earliest, all those who had gone to Iraq and went missing since 2014, he said. "We have worked really hard to trace all such Indians, be they dead or alive."

Asked whether the Centre would provide any compensation to the 39 deceased, among whom 27 were from Punjab, four from Himachal Pradesh and two from West Bengal, Singh said, We are collecting details of their families. They will be properly taken care of.

Meanwhile, an official release said, The chief minister has directed the state home department to provide Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased. Each of them have already been given an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh by the labour department.

The chief minister has also issued instructions to the chief secretary to prepare a proposal with regard to other possible assistance that the bereaved family members may be provided with," the release said.

The deceased - Bidya Bhushan, Santosh Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar and Adalat Singh - were in their 30s and hailed from Siwan district.

"The mortal remains will be handed over to the respective families in Siwan. Special arrangements have been made for transporting the mortal remains from Patna to their native district," Patna District Magistrate Kumar Ravi said.