Slain Bihar cop’s last rites performed

RANCHI - The last rites of Bihar policeman Lucas Tete, who was killed by the Maoists in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district, were held Saturday with full state honours in his home town in Jharkhand’s Simdega district.

The body of Tete, who hailed from a poor tribal family in Simdega, was found near Simratali forest in Lakhisarai Friday - a day after Maoists said they had killed one of the four policemen they had abducted after a gunfight last Sunday.

He is survived by his wife Pyari and three teenaged daughters - Anjela, Majula and Neelam.

Earlier, Tete’s body was brought to his home town Kolebera in Simdega, around 120 km from Ranchi by helicopter.

Thousands of people, including senior police officials, were present for the last rites.

The rebels had abducted the four Bihar policemen in a six-hour gunfight, in which seven policemen were killed and 10 injured. Maoists termed the attack to be retaliation for the killing of their leader Azad and a journalist.

The rebels were demanding the release of eight Maoist leaders who are lodged in different jails in Bihar in exchange for the abducted policemen.