PM meets slain Defence Attache, Counsellor's families

New Delhi, Jul 11 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today met the family members of IFS officer B V Rao and Defence Attache Brig R D Mehta, who were killed in the July seven suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

The Prime Miister, accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur and Chief of Army Staff Gen Deepak Kapoor, reached the Central Industrial Security Force complex in Ghaziabad by Air Force helicopter and drove down to Vasundhara to meet the bereaved family of Brig Mehta.

The PM remained with the family for 15 minutes before flying back to the National Capital.

Though Brig Mehta belonged to Shimla, his wife Sunita had been staying with her sister here after his death.

In the National Capital, the PM and his wife paid a visit to the residence of political counsellor B V Rao and expressed grief at the loss.

Yesterday, Dr Singh had sanctioned Rs five lakh each for the families of the two Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel killed in the blast.

Similar amount was also sanctioned for the family of Niyamatullah, an Afghan national working as a watchman for the Indian mission in Kabul, who was also killed in the blast.

The ITBP personnel killed are Ajai Pathania and Roop Singh.

The Prime Minister went to AIIMS last evening to call on the two ITBP personnel injured in the blast. A sum of Rs two lakh each has been sanctioned for them from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

UNI NAB GL DS1655