Mosul killings: All five Siwan victims cremated

Patna: A pall of gloom descended on Siwan after the mortal remains of Santosh Kumar Singh, Vidya Bhushan Tiwari, Adalat Singh, Dharmendra Kumar and Sunil Kumar Kushwaha killed at Mosul in Iraq by the ISIS in 2014 reached there on Tuesday morning.
The mortal remains of the five were brought to Patna by Union minister V K Singh by an aircraft of the Indian Air Force Monday night.Santosh and Vidya were from Sahasraw in Andar block, Adalat belonged to Sinswa Khurd, Dharmendra to Harpur and Sunil to Gandak Colony, all in the Mairwan block of the district.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar, in the presence of deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and others received the mortal remains at the Patna airport. The CM announced Rs5 lakh ex gratia payment to the next of kin of each of the deceased.
Though the family members of Adalat and Sunil initially refused to accept the mortal remains demanding more financial assistance from the state government, they were later pacified following assurances from the officials.
Shyam Kumar Kushwaha, a family member of Adalat, told reporters: “He has a wife, little children and parents at home and the family needs adequate compensation.”
Siwan DM Mahendra Kumar said: “After initial refusal, the family members of Sunil and Adalat accepted the mortal remains following assurance of all possible help to them.”
He said Rs1 lakh granted by the state labour resources department had already been handed over to each grieving family on March 31 and Rs5 lakh ex gratia announced by the CM would also be disbursed soon.
“The mortal remains of Raju Yadav of Phulpura village in Maharajganj block has not been brought to India yet as the DNA samples were still to be matched. Fresh samples were sent only a month back as the earlier DNA samples taken from family members had got contaminated,” the DM said.
He said the three Mairwan victims were cremated at Darauli ghat and the two from Andar block at Pataar ghat. “All five were cremated at around 7am. Both ghats are on the banks of river Ghagara, which is known as Saryu in Uttar Pradesh,” the DM said.
The DM said all preparations for the cremation were made as per the wishes of their respective family members.