“We were waiting for him from the past 3-4 years and there was a hope for his return. Now we have lost everything,” says Dilawar Singh, father of Sandeep Kumar, who had been confirmed to have died in Mosul, Iraq.

Sandeep had gone to Iraq in search of job in September 2013 and he had last contacted his family on 15 June 2014. After that he couldn’t be contacted.

Advertisement

Sandeep was the sole bread-winner of the family and he is survived by two sons aged 18 and 6.

His family is now grieving in pain while staring at an uncertain future as the family is left to fend for themselves without any support from the state government.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday confirmed the death of Sandeep after the parents DNA matched with the bodies collected from Mosul which was earlier under the control of ISIS.

Sandeep was among the four Himachali men who were abducted and killed by the terrorists. A native of Fatehpur in Kangra district, he was working as a machine operator and being the sole bread winner, his family is staring at an uncertain future.

The other two victims from Kangra are Aman Kumar from Passu village near Dharamshala and Inderjit Kumar from Lunj in Shahpur area and their death has been confirmed by the government.

“My elder son received a call from Delhi on Tuesday confirming his death,” said Aman’s father Ramesh Chand.

He said Aman had left for Iraq on September 2013 and went missing in June 2014. He had his last word with his brother on phone on 14 June 2014.

“He had told us that he had been kidnapped by unknown persons and they were taking him to some unknown place,” he said, adding he couldn’t be contacted after that.

While SP Kangra, Santosh Patial didn’t confirm the deaths and he hadn’t received official confirmation to this matter till now.

“We are waiting for the official announcement only after that we would be able to confirm anything,” he said.

The fourth victim has been identified as Hemraj from Sundernagar area of Mandi district and he is survived by wife and daughter and son.

He too had gone missing on 14 June 2014 after which he had made a call to his wife, Nirmala Devi, saying that he had been injured in a bomb blast and had been kidnapped.