Slain Indian student's body arrives; cremated

Jamshedpur, Jan 26 (UNI) The body of slain Indian student Abhijit Mahto, who was shot dead at his apartment in Durham in the United States on January 18, was brought at his ancestral village Gamharia, near here, this evening.

Jharkhand Deputy Chief Minister Sudhir Mahto, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) vice-president Champai Soren and other JMM leaders and the administrative officials accompanied the body from Ranchi airport.

The parents and the relatives of the slain student, who was pursuing higher studies from Duke University, were inconsolable as soon as the body arrived at his house after a painful waiting for more than a week.

The only son of a retired Post and Telegraph employee sitaram Mahto, Abhijit (29), who was a brilliant student, did his B Tech from Jadavpur University in Kolkata and then joined IIT, Kanpur, to complete his M Tech before going to the US for PhD in Computer Science.

The atmosphere was gloomy when Abhijit's parents had a last look to their beloved. The relatives and the neigbour thronged Gamharia to have the last look to their proud boy of the area.

The body was cremated at Parvati Ghat at Bistupur area here.

Reacting to the tragedy, Mr Mahto said Jharkhand had lost a brilliant student, who had a bright future. He also urged the Centre to take appropriate steps to safeguard the lives of the Indian students abroad and make sure that such incidents do not take place again. Mr Mahto also thanked the government for bringing back the body of Abhijit from the US.

Meanwhile, taking prompt action, the US police had arrested four youths, including the shooter of the student from Durham.

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