Kirpal Singh's body back in India; post-mortem conducted

Pakistani authorities handed over the body to Border Security Force (BSF) officials at the Attari-Wagah land border check post after completing necessary formalities.

Close relatives and residents from Kirpal Singh's village were present at Attari, 30 km from here, when the body was brought back to India.

The body, in a coffin, was carried by porters on the Indian side even as family members showered flowers on the coffin.

The body was taken in a van to the Amritsar civil hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Pakistani authorities had attributed his death to heart attack, but his family has alleged he was murdered in prison.

Kirpal Singh, the family has maintained, had inadvertently crossed into Pakistan and was arrested and charged with spying by Pakistan authorities.

Kirpal's family had met union home minister Rajnath Singh and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi last week to seek immediate repatriation of his body to India.

The Punjab government has offered to extend all help and relief to Kirpal's family on the same lines as given to another Indian prisoner, Sarabjit Singh, who was murdered in the same prison in Lahore in April 2013.

Kirpal Singh, a former serviceman, had been lodged in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison since 1992. He died on April 11.

Pakistani authorities had labelled him a spy and got him convicted for terror attacks inside Pakistan.