STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Family members of Dulal Chandra Paul (65), a declared foreigner who died recently, on Tuesday accepted the body.
Paul, a resident of Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district, who was declared foreigner by a tribunal in 2017 and was lodged in a detention camp in Tezpur, had died at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) on October 13. The family had refused to accept the body till authorities pronounced Paul an Indian. Even the request made by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was initially turned down by the family.
Paul’s body was lying at the morgue in GMCH since October 13. But a section of members of Bengali associations and BJP MLA Shiladitya Deb on Tuesday came to GMCH on behalf of the family and accepted the body. The body was then taken to Dhekiajuli for funeral. Paul was earlier sent to Tezpur Medical College & Hospital on September 27. From Tezpur hospital he was referred to GMCH where he died due to diabetes and kidney ailments.