Bengaluru:  Even as the death toll in Easter Sunday serial bomb blasts in Colombo, Sri Lanka, touched 360, the bodies of four JD(S) leaders from Nelamangala, who were killed in the blasts, arrived in Bengaluru late last night.

The bodies of H. Shivukumar, K.G. Hanumantharayappa, K.M. Lakshminarayana and M. Rangappa, which arrived at KIAL, Bengaluru around midnight, were later taken to their native place Nelamangala in Bengaluru Rural District and kept at a ground in the town for public viewing, it is learnt.

JD(S) Supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, MLC T.A. Saravana and other top JD(S) leaders were among those who paid their last respects to the deceased party leaders.

Seven JD(S) leaders from Nelamangala and Chikkaballapura had left for a week-long tour to Sri Lanka from Bengaluru on Apr.20 after the polling for 14 Lok Sabha seats in the southern part of the State was held on Apr.18, when they were killed in the serial blasts that rocked Colombo on Apr. 21.

Meanwhile, the mortal remains of three other JD(S) leaders killed in the blast — A. Maregowda, Puttaraju and Ramesh Gowda — are expected to arrive at Bengaluru this evening.

CM condemns blasts

CM Kumaraswamy has strongly condemned the barbaric Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka, in which seven JD(S) leaders were killed.

Speaking to media persons at Kapu in Udupi district on Tuesday, where he was undergoing nature therapy after hectic campaigning in the LS polls, Kumaraswamy expressed grief over losing his party members in the blast.

Maintaining that he had lost his friends who were like his family members, Kumaraswamy said the party leaders killed in the bomb blasts were like the pillars of his party and that the party had lost half of its strength in Nelamangala.

Kumaraswamy, who abruptly ended his nature therapy treatment at Kapu on Tuesday after hearing the sad loss of his party members, rushed back to Bengaluru last night after making a brief stay at Channarayapatna, where he met party MLA C.N. Balakrishna.