Jawan's family refuses last rites, demands presence of Rajnath, Adityanath

CHANDAULI: Family members of slain army jawan Chandan Kumar Rai on Monday refused to perform his last rites demanding the presence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his funeral procession, but finally yielded when the CM intervened. The signalman was posted at a forward post in the Mankote sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, where he was injured in a ceasefire violation by Pakistan and later succumbed to his injuries on Saturday night. Rai (25), who was set to marry next month, had applied for leave and was expected to arrive in his native village early next month. His mortal remains arrived at the Varanasi airport on Sunday and were taken to 39 Gorkha Training Centre in the city. The body was taken to Nadesar-Marufpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Chandauli district this morning. The family members sat on a dharna and refused to perform the last rites, untill the home minister, who is also a native of the same district, and the UP chief minister visit Rai's ancestral village. UP ministers Anil Rajbhar and Jai Prakash Nishad, District Magistrate Hemant Kumar and Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh, along with other district officials and local MLAs had reached the village to offer their condolences to the family. The chief minister, who had announced Rs 25-lakh ex-gratia for Rai's family on Sunday, spoke to the army jawan's father Satya Prakash on the phone and assured him of all possible support. Following this assurance, his family members went ahead with performing his last rites. Rajbhar earlier announced that the Ghazipur-Chandauli connecting road will be named after the martyr.