Navy sailor cremated with full state honours
Suraj Kumar Dubey was found with severe burn injuries in Maharashta’s Palghar, and died while being taken to a hospital in Mumbai on Friday THE SAILOR HAD REPORTEDLY CLAIMED THAT SOME ARMED MEN HAD DEMANDED RANSOM OF ₹10 LAKH FROM HIM
LATEHAR: Indian Navy sailor Suraj Kumar Dubey was cremated with full state honours at his native village of Purbadiha in Jharkhand’s Palamu district on Monday.
Dubey was found with severe burn injuries in forests of Gholvad in Maharashta’s Palghar and died while being taken to a hospital in Mumbai on Friday.
The army and navy personnel gave salute to the departed soul. Jharkhand minister Mithilesh Thakur attended the funeral proceedings.
In his dying declaration, Dubey had reportedly claimed that some armed men had demanded ransom of ₹10 lakh from him. However, his elder brother Niraj Kumar Dubey said that they did not get receive any such call between January 30 and February 5.
As per available information, Dubey was on a month-long leave since January 1. In order to rejoin duty, Dubey had boarded a Hyderabad-bound flight from Ranchi around 8am on January 30. After reaching Hyderabad, he spoke to his family members. He then boarded another flight from Hyderabad to Chennai, from where he was scheduled to take a train to Coimbatore.
Dubey landed in Chennai around 9pm the same day, after which he went traceless. On finding his mobile phone switched off, his family contacted INS Agrani, where Dubey was deployed as leading seaman and later filed a missing complaint with Chainpur police station in Palamu.
Amid high-pitched demand for a CBI inquiry by local leaders, minister Mithilesh Thakur said, “There should not be any politics on the death of an Indian Navy personnel. The state government will provide financial assistance of ₹10 lakh to the bereaved family and sanction pension for family members.”
“The state government will ensure exemplary action is taken against those involved in the heinous crime,” Thakur said.
On the other hand, Dubey’s family has insisted a conspiracy behind the incident, alleging that two of his colleagues are behind the murder.