Surendra Adhikari, 29, of Ghasikuwa-1, Tanahu, Bishnu Bahadur Rana of Lamjung, Raman Gurung of Jhapa and Rajendra Gurung of Gorakhpur, India working for the BMP 1 Gorkha Batallion were killed at noon on Monday when they were attacked by around 50 Maoists while on a security patrol to Punjab National Bank.[break]
“He had said that he was fine and asked my well being. He had also asked me to take my medicines regularly,” Surendra Adhikari´s 55-year-old mother Nani Maya said recalling her son´s phone call Monday morning.
Adhikari has been working for the Armed Police for nine years. Nani Maya is yet to come to terms with her son´s loss while Adhikari ´s wife Parbati is unconscious. “He spoke to his wife in the morning and talked about coming home. We heard about his death the next day,” Adhikari ´s elder brother Ram Krishna revealed.
An Indian hearse escorted by the police handed over the Adhikari´s body to the family Tuesday evening and he was cremated in the night. Adhikari ´s father Hari Bahadur, who runs a business in Arghakhanchi, was stuck there due to the Maoist strike and couldn´t attend his son´s funeral.
“Parbati and I are performing the crematory rites as elder brother (Hari) couldn´t come home due to the strike,” Surendra´s uncle Min Bahadur said. Surendra´s sons - four-year-old Ashish and is 18-months-old Sujan -- are too young to perform the rites as per the Hindu tradition.
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