Rahul Raj's last rites performed in haste

Patna, Oct 29: The last rites of Rahul Raj Prasad, the victim of Monday, Oct 27's Mumbai shootout, were performed at the Gulabi burning ghat here on Tuesday, Oct 28 night in haste to avoid any untoward incident. The decision to perform the last rites of Rahul within hours of the arrival of his body from Mumbai at 2100 hours (IST), was taken by the victim's family members and the state administration in the wake of prevailing tension and the possibility of emotional outburst by his friends and others in the locality.

''We did not want to take any chance and delay the last rites till this morning and wait for the arrival of some of Rahul's relatives from outside Patna, as tension was running high in the area following the arrival of the body,'' the uncle of the shootout victim said.

Hundreds of people and large number of security personnel accompanied the funeral procession to the Gulabi crematorium, about three km away, where the body was finally consigned to flames by Rahul's grieving father Kundan Raj Prasad at around midnight amid shouting of slogans like 'Rahul Raj Amar Rahe', 'Mumbai Police Murdabad' and 'Raj Thackeray Murdabad'.

Among others Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi was present at the burning ghat.

However, this morning several dharnas had been organised by various students bodies in different parts of Bihar to protest the shooting down of Rahul Raj. The agitators demanded stern and immediate action against MNS and its chief Raj Thackeray.

The strong presence of policemen all over Patna and in every district headquarters prevented the situation from going out of control anywhere, official sources said.

After the post mortem at Mumbai's J J hospital, Rahul's body was handed over to his cousin and grandmother and was brought to Patna at 2100 hours by a flight via Delhi last night.

From the airport Rahul's body was driven straight to his house at Kadamkuan where a large number of people had assembled. Though there were some instances of emotional outbursts by some of his relatives and friends, the situation was under control. A large contingent of police force was also present there.

UNI