Gopinath Munde To Be Cremated With Full State Honours Today

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, June 04, 2014:  Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde, who died after a road accident in Delhi yesterday, will be cremated with full state honours at his native village in Maharashtra’s Beed district today.

 Mr Munde’s body was brought to Latur, 485 kilometers from Mumbai, this morning from where it is being taken to Nathra, a 2500-strong village, 20 km from Parli taluka. His last rites will be performed around 4 pm. His body was flown to Mumbai from Delhi last evening and was kept at the BJP headquarters overnight for people to pay their last respects.

Mr Munde was sworn in as a Cabinet minister last week.

The 64-year-old minister, considered the BJP’s tallest leader in Maharashtra, was on his way to the airport to go to Beed, his Lok Sabha constituency, for a victory rally, when an Indica car crashed into his SX4 car at the Prithviraj Road and Aurobindo Chowk cross-section in the heart of the city, the police said.

He was rushed to the trauma centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and was pronounced dead at 7.20 am on Tuesday.

Mr Munde’s body was kept for about an hour at the BJP headquarters in Delhi, where leaders across party lines, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, gathered to pay their tributes. 

The driver of the Indica, who was arrested and charged with causing death due to negligence and rash driving, has been granted bail by a Delhi court.