Nitish meets family members of CRPF jawan killed in J-K

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today met the family members of Mujahid Khan, a slain CRPF jawan hailing from Bhojpur district of the state who had died fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir last month.

The meeting took place at the Chief Minister's official residence here where Kumar directed Principal Secretary (Home), Amir Subhani, to provide "all possible help" to the family members of the deceased CRPF jawan who was killed in an encounter with militants at Srinagar on February 12, an official release said.

Others present on the occasion included senior leader of the ruling Janata Dal (United) Ashok Chowdhury.

Notably, Khan's family members had declined to accept a cheque of Rs five lakh offered by the state government by way of ex-gratia pointing out that Army personnel who lost their lives while performing their duties were given Rs 11 lakh and the "substantially lower amount" for paramilitary personnel was "demeaning".

The District Magistrate of Bhojpur had, thereafter, written to the state home department about the grievance expressed by the family members of the deceased CRPF jawan.