Muslims cremate Hindu friend in Assam's Kamrup dist

Rangia, Aug 25 A group of Muslim villagers in Assam’s Kamrup district has performed the last rites of a Hindu man, who had stayed at a Muslim friend’s residence with his family for over 25 years, officials said on Sunday.

Sixty-five-year-old Rajkumar Gaur used to stay at Saddam Hussain’s residence in Rangia’s Khandikar village after the death of his father rendered him homeless in the 1990s.

After Rajkumar Gaur died on Saturday, Hussain and his friends pooled money to purchase the items required for a Hindu cremation and arranged a priest, said Shukur Ali, a resident of Khandikar village.

They also carried his body to the cremation ground and set fire to the funeral pyre amidst chanting of Vedic chants, Maidul Islam of the same village said.

Upen Das of a neighbouring Hindu village backed this version saying the people of Khandikar had asked him for the list of items needed for Gaur’s last rites.

Official sources said the administration was not involved in the cremation but was aware of the incident.