Bhagalpur: Political leaders in Bihar have urged the government to expedite the repatriation of the body of Devnandan Prasad Singh, an engineer from Bhagalpur who was killed in an attack near Iran earlier this month.
Singh, a chief engineer from Rani Bamiya village in the Sanhaula block of Bhagalpur district, died on March 11 when a Thai ship travelling towards India came under attack amid tensions linked to the Israel–Iran–US conflict.
Five days after the incident, his body had still not reached India, adding to the distress of his family and residents of his village.
Local leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party said they had written to Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the external affairs minister, and state leaders including Nitish Kumar and Samrat Chaudhary, requesting that Singh’s body be brought to his native village as soon as possible.
Among those who sent the appeals were district BJP president Santosh Kumar, district general secretary Nitesh Singh, district office secretary Pradeep Kumar, party spokesperson Vinod Sinha and Kahalgaon assembly in-charge Roshan Singh.
They said Singh’s family had been deeply shaken by the incident and called on authorities to act quickly on humanitarian grounds.
At Singh’s home, his elderly mother Gayatri Devi is said to be inconsolable. His sisters, Parvati Devi, Ranju Devi and Manju Devi, have also been left devastated by the loss.
Family members said Singh’s younger brother Krishnanandan Prasad Singh, along with his wife and daughter, is currently in Delhi awaiting the arrival of the body.
Residents say Singh was widely respected in his village and had contributed to local development, including the construction of a Bajrangbali temple near the village primary school.
Since news of the incident spread, the village has been in mourning, with hundreds of residents visiting the family home each day to express their condolences while awaiting the return of the engineer’s body.
