Funeral for 5 killed in Chhattisgarh Maoist attack: ‘He told me he would start distributing his wedding invites after the operation’

“He had collected the cards from a printing shop on March 21 and come to my home for dinner. He had told me he would start distributing the invites after returning from the operation,” Narayanpur District Ayurved Officer Dr Satyendra Nag said about his friend Devkaran Dehari, the driver of the bus who was among the three men who died on the spot after the blast under the engine.

Dehari was to marry on April 21 a woman he had known for more than eight years at his village Podgaon in Kanker. “She recently got a government job… He was preparing for the wedding days before the operation,” one of Dehari’s friends said.

Constable Sevak Salam, resident of Chavad village in Kanker district, expected to go home after the operation to meet his one-year-old daughter. On Wednesday, in her uncle’s arms, the child became a part of her father’s last rites. “He was friendly with everyone,” one of the villagers said.

17 vehicles torched

Raipur: Maoists on Thursday torched 17 vehicles deployed for road construction under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana near Kuemari village in Kondagaon district. Workers at the spot said that more than 20 armed Maoists threatened to kill their contractor if they did not stop work. —ENS