By IANS,
New Delhi: As the body of 21-year-old Nitin Garg, an Indian student stabbed to death in Melbourne, was flown here Saturday, the Indian government announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 250,000 for his family.
The body arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and was handed over to his relatives to be taken to Jagraon in Ludhiana in Punjab. The cremation will take place Sunday.
An officer of the external affairs ministry was present at the airport to receive the body and hand it over his relatives.
The government also bore all expenses for the repatriation of Garg’s body to India, including transportation, the spokesperson of the external affairs ministry said.
Earlier, the Indian Consulate in Melbourne had also assisted in repatriation of the body to India, he added.
Garg, an accounting graduate, was knifed in the West Footscray suburb in Melbourne while on his way to work Jan 2. His body arrived in India on the day when an Indian student was set ablaze by four unidentified men in Melbourne, fuelling outrage in India over continuing attacks on Indian students in Australia.