TRIVANDRUM, 15 January 2006 — Afghan Charge d’Affaires K.M. Abdul Mohammed handed over $5,000 in financial assistance to the family of Maniappan Raman Kutty, a driver with India’s Border Roads Organization, killed by alleged Taleban militia near Kandahar in November last year. The envoy, who was accompanying Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah on a holiday trip to Kerala, arrived at Kutty’s residence yesterday morning and handed over the compensation amount announced by President Hamid Karzai to Kutty’s widow Bindhu. Kutty, 34, had been with the BRO for the past 16 years and was abducted and killed by the Taleban who demanded the cessation of all construction activities by Indian firms.
