Gautam cremated with state honours

Kanchanpur / March 12: Govinda Gautam of Punarbash Municipality-8 in Kanchanpur district, who had died on March 9 from firing from the India’s Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) at Aananda Bazar in the district, was cremated with state honours today in the Dodha River bank in the district.

His 72-year-old father Khem Lal Gautam performed the final rites. Nepal Police offered an 11- gun salute to Gautam who was declared a martyr by the government on March 10.

Thousands of locals from Kailali and Kanchanpur districts swarmed in the funeral procession that commenced from the Seti Hospital in Dhangadi reached the river bank after passing through Doke Bazar, Chauraha and Trinagar Bhansar.

Gautam was killed in shooting by the SSB force, following a dispute surfaced after the Indian side demolished a culvert constructed by the Nepali side at Ananda Bazar of southern Kanchanpur near the Nepal-India border, implementing the February 21 agreement reached between the Nepal-India border officials for the same.

Although his body was said to be kept at his hometown for the public viewing but due to time constraints, the funeral procession marched towards the river bank not stopping anywhere in between. RSS