The body of K. Rajesh, a CRPF jawan who was killed in the Naxal ambush in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, was brought to Kochi on Thursday.
The martyr's body, accompanied by CRPF DIG K.G. Madhusudhanan, was flown in here at the Cochin airport from Delhi by an IC flight at 8.50 p.m. and was received at the airport by the CRPF along with his two brothers, Rajeev and Ramesh.
Draped in tricolour, the coffin was given floral tributes by the Union ministers K.V. Thomas and E. Ahamed, Fisheries Minister S. Sarma, P. Rajeev MP., District Collector M. Beena among various others.
Hundreds of people from Mazhuvannor grama panchayat, the native place of the slain soldier, queued up at the airport along with Rajesh's friends and relatives to have a last glimpse of their hero. The body was kept in front of the domestic terminal for the public to pay homage for a few minutes.
Amidst a poignant atmosphere, the body was later escorted to Rajesh's home by 9.30 p.m. On Friday, the body will be cremated after keeping it for public viewing at a school near Rajesh's home and at the Mazhuvannor panchayath office.
