ITBP constable cremated with State honours

Leaving an entire village in shock, the body of jawan A.C. Bijeesh, who was shot dead in Chhattisgarh, was cremated with full State honours on the compound of his house at Kallode near Perambra in Kozhikode district on Friday.

Bijeesh, 32, was among the five personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) who were killed after a constable allegedly opened fire at the insurgency-hit Narayanpur camp near Bastar in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday.

The constable then allegedly shot himself dead.

Thousands of people paid their last respects to the jawan when the body was kept for public homage at Kallode on Friday morning.

Prior to it, a funeral procession was held from Perambra town to Bijeesh’s ancestral house.

A unit of the Kerala Police and a force led by a commandant of the ITBP battalion gave their final salute to the slain jawan before the body was consigned to flames at 10.15 a.m.

Excise and Labour Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan, who had visited Bijeesh’s house on Thursday, was among those who paid tributes.

Bijeesh was the son of Balan Nair and Sumati.

He is survived by wife Amritha and a four-year-old daughter.