Body of BRO driver reaching India today

     New Delhi: The body of Kerala-born Maniappan Raman Kutty, who was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan's Nimroze province on Tuesday, is likely to be brought to India today. The body is expected to be airlifted from Nimroz to Kabul after which it is likely to be brought to Delhi by the Indian Airlines flight. Kutty's mortal remains will be taken to his native place in Alappuzha, Kerala, for last rites later in the day.

     Thirty-six-year-old Kutty, a driver with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), and three Afghan co-workers were abducted by Taliban on Saturday night. Kutty's throat-slit body was found on a road in the desert district of Delaram on Wednesday morning. After taking Kutty hostage, the Taliban had demanded that the BRO cease its operations in Afghanistan, failing which they said they would kill Kutty within 48 hours. At the time of the kidnapping and the subsequent threat, the BRO was constructing the highway between Zeroing and Delaram as part of the Indian Government's financial assistance programme for Kabul. Since the killing of the BRO driver, New Delhi has urged Kabul to beef up security for Indians working in Afghanistan. This is not the first time that the Taliban has abducted several Turkish and Indian engineers involved in road works in southern Afghanistan. It has done so in the past as well. Earlier, in 2003, the Taliban had abducted two Indians working for a private road construction company. They were eventually released.