State funeral for Sarabjit today, crowds turn up at his home

May 03, 2013 09:28

Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who died in Pakistan on Thursday a week after a brutal prison attack, will be accorded state funeral in his Punjab hometown of Bhikhiwind on Friday afternoon.

Sarabjit's body was brought to India from Pakistan last night. The body was brought to Amritsar from Lahore onboard a special Air India flight and was subsequently taken to his native town in a helicopter.

Before handing over the body to the family, a second post-mortem was also conducted on Sarabjit's body at the government-run Amritsar Medical College in Patti to "know the cause behind his death". The first autopsy was conducted at Pakistan's Jinnah Hospital where Sarabjit died.

Markets and other businesses in Bhikiwind are closed and people from neighbouring villages are pouring in to pay their respect. All roads lead to the house of the man who, his family says, strayed across the border one night 22 years ago and returned in a coffin.

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