Kotkhai gangrape-murder: Week after custodial death, Nepalese national cremated quietly
Suraj, who was arrested on July 13, died in police custody in Kotkhai on July 19, which led to protests across the state.
gaurav.bisht@hindustantimes.com
A week after he died in police custody, Nepalese national Suraj, accused in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old school girl, was cremated quietly in Shimla's Sanjuali crematorium on Wednesday.
His body was released by Indira Gandhi Medical College hospital in Shimla at around 8 am on Wednesday morning. By 9:30 am the cremation was over.
A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) re-examined Suraj's body, it was handed over to his wife, Mamta, who arrived at the hospital with daughter Aasha (7) and son Sameer (3). Suraj’s wife was accompanied by a few other Nepalese nationals. Representatives of Nepalese organisation Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Ekta Samaj (ABNES) had initially protested the holding back of Suraj’s body.
“His widow is all alone here. She left her mobile in the village. All her contacts and important information is in her mobile and she does not have anyone beside her,” ABNES president Shoba Ram, who accompanied the body till the crematorium, said.
Despite the police and district administration remaining tight-lipped, hospital authorities are said to have informed Mamta and ABNES late Tuesday evening that Suraj’s body will be released in the morning. “We had no inkling that the cremation will take place today when district administration met us a few days back,” Shoba Ram said.
Children light funeral pyre
“How will I fend for my family? I have two small children,” said Mamta, who was accompanied by women constables. Suraj’s children lit the funeral pyre as cops assisted them. No religious mantras were read.
Interestingly, no leader from BJP or CPI(M) — parties that created an uproar over Suraj's custodial killing — was present.
Suraj, who was arrested on July 13, died in police custody in Kotkhai on July 19, which led to protests across the state. An angry mob also set the Kotkhai police station on fire. Suraj's body was preserved at the IGMC in Shimla after the autopsy . A multi-member CBI team took over investigation on Saturday and re-examined Suraj’s. “The way Suraj has been cremated is inhuman,” former Shimla mayor Sanjay Chauhan said.