Minister extends financial help to Punjab victims’ family

PURNIA: Bihar social welfare minister Lesie Singh on Saturday gave a cheque of Rs 6 lakh to the bereaved family members of Banke Mandal at Ganeshpur Pokher tola under Krityanand Nagar block in Purnia district. Banke's five family members were found dead at Talwandi in Ferozpur district in Punjab recently.
The minister, who expressed solidarity with the bereaved family members, handed over a cheque of Rs 2.4 lakh to Banke Mandal’s daughter-in-law Kari Devi.Since other bereaved members were not present, the cheques were handed over to BDO Manish Kumar. Purnia DM Rajesh Kumar, who accompanied the minister, disclosed that a sum of Rs 5 lakh was given under Bihar Rajya Pravashi Majdoor Durghatna scheme and the residual Rs one lakh under Rashtriya Pariwarik Yojna.
The highly decomposed bodies of five members of a single family, including Banke Mandal (55), his wife Shitla Devi (45), their sons Nandu Mandal (22) and Kundan Mandal (25), and latter’s wife Lalita (20), were found dead under mysterious circumstances inside their house at Talwandi in Ferozpur district on March 19. Punjab police believe that they were killed some four or five days back. But, it came to light on Thursday last when neighbours complained about foul smell emitting out their house. While the highly decomposed body of Banke Mandal was in one room, other four bodies were in a different room.
Slain Banke Mandal’s 17-year old youngest daughter Baby has been missing for few months under murky circumstances. Punjab police are desperately trying to locate her and have gone over to Himachal Pradesh after stumbling on some clues, sources said. At the outset, though the Punjab police tried to dismiss the incident of collective killing as a case of poisoning, they have, however, lodged a case of murder following the post mortem report, sources said. CM Nitish Kumar has also spoken to his Punjab counterpart Prakash Singh Badal conveying his concern over the death of five members of a family from Bihar and sought his cooperation in reaching the culprits.