Bodies of five Sikkim IRB personnel reached

Gangtok, Mar 13 (UNI) The bodies of five Sikkim India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel, who were shot dead by one of their colleagues in New Delhi on Sunday, were brought to Sikkim this evening.

Constable Nari Lepcha, the prime accused, reportedly told Delhi police that he shot dead his colleagues after they tried to sodomise him.

All the personnel were on duty at the Daryaganj branch of the Dena Bank when the incident occurred.

Police identified the deceased as Lance Naik Vishal Tiwari, Lance Naik Kumar Basnet, Constable Karma Bhutia, Constable Laxman Subba all from South district and Constable Satbir Tamang from East district.

Senior Sikkim Police officials, DIG (Armed Forces) Sudhakar Rao and Deputy Commandant IRB Hemraj Rai accompanied the bodies from New Delhi.

DIG Range Askhaya Sachdeva said the bodies were brought in by IA planes.

Director General of Police C M Ravindran, who rushed to Delhi soon after the news broke out, returned to Sikkim a few hours earlier and received the bodies at Rangpo this evening.

The bodies were then sent to their respective homes with police escort.

Chief Minister Pawan Chamling is likely to visit the bereaved families tomorrow and hand over the ex-gratia of Rs two lakh to each of the victims' families as announced earlier.

UNI