Sarabjit Singh, an Indian death row prisoner who died in Pakistan on Thursday and his dead body was flown to India on the same day is scheduled to be accorded state funeral at his Punjab hometown of Bhikhiwind this afternoon.
He succumbed to injury in Pakistan's Jinnah Hospital after a week from a brutal assault by other inmates of a high-security jail in Pakistan.
Sarabjit's body was brought to Amritsar from Lahore onboard a special Air India flight and was subsequently taken to his native town in a helicopter.
Before handing over the body to the family, a second post-mortem was also conducted on Sarabjit's body at the government-run Amritsar Medical College in Patti. The first autopsy was conducted at Jinnah Hospital.
The Punjab government has announced a financial assistance of one crore rupees for the family of Sarabjit and declared a three-day state mourning.
The Centre has also announced an ex-gratia payment of 25 lakh rupees for Sarabjit's family from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said that there is an extreme level of sadness throughout the country over the issue and the government will provide all support to the family of the deceased prisoner.
"It is a terrible psychological and emotional setback for us. We deeply regret his death. We are extremely angry," Khurshid added.
He further said Sarabjit's death was a setback to people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan.
"A sustainable and long lasting relationship between two countries has to be between people. That relation has been hurt by what has happened today", Khurshid added.
Sarabjit died of cardiac arrest in a Pakistani hospital in the wee hours on Thursday after being comatose for nearly a week following a brutal assault by fellow inmates in a high- security jail.
Sarabjit had been admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital, where four of his family members - his sister, wife and two daughters - had visited him.
Sarabjit had been on death row since 1991 after he was convicted of espionage and links to a series of bombings in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
--With ANI Inputs--
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