Kutty to be cremated with state honours

New Delhi: The body of M R Kutty, a driver with the Border Roads Organisation who was abducted and killed by Taliban, has been taken to Thiruvananthapuram.

The special flight carrying Kutty's body landed in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday evening.

The body will be taken from Thiruvananthapuram to his village Chingoli in Kerala by road after which the funeral will take place.

People in Kerala are protesting over the brutal killing of Kutty.

The protesters say that the government has failed to meet the 48 hours deadline given by Taliban for negotiations.

"Central government has not shown any interest releasing Kutty from kidnappers. For their negligence, we have lost Kutty," said one of the protester.

"There are so many powerful MPs in Centre but not a single one raised the issue," said another protester.

CPI-M Polit Bureau, V S Achutananthan said that if the government has made sincere efforts, the tragedy could have been avoided.

Kutty's murder is a big shock to his family, but for India, concerned about the resurgence of the Taliban, it is a security nightmare come true.

Indian missions in Kabul and Kandahar swung into action soon after Kutty was kidnapped on Saturday.

Rakesh Sood, the Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan, said, "I feel very sad that an innocent man who was in Kabul to help Afghanistan, has been killed in this brutal manner".

Funeral ceremony at Kabul

A special funeral ceremony was held at Kabul airport on Thursday for Kutty. Indian and Afghan officials paid their last respects.

Kutty had been working as a driver with BRO on a road-rebuilding project in the Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing and vowed to provide security for foreigners involved in reconstruction works.

The Indian Ambassador in Kabul Rakesh Sood attended the funeral ceremony at the airport.

Giving a message to the dead man's family, Sood said, "I can only say that Kutty was in Kabul for India, and he was martyred." Hundreds of Indians are presently working on Afghan reconstruction projects.

Earlier, Taliban spokesperson has said that Kutty was executed because the BRO did not met the deadline to pull out of Afghanistan.