H. Gopal Bhandary, former Karkala MLA and senior Congress leader, who passed away on Thursday, was cremated at Hutturke, Hebri, in Udupi district on Friday. Earlier, the body was brought from the mortuary of Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru and kept for public viewing at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan of Kisan Sabha Trust at Karkala from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
Then, the body was taken to Hebri, where it was kept for public viewing at the Government First Grade College from 1 p.m. to 2.30 p.m.
A large number of people paid their last respects to the former MLA at Karkala and Hebri.
The body was taken to Huthurke where the last rites were carried out. His sons, Pradeep Bhandary and Sudeep Bhandary, lit the funeral pyre. The district police gave a guard of honour on the occasion. Bhandary (67) is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
Minister for Women and Child Welfare Jaimala, Chairman of the Legislative Council Pratapchandra Shetty, MLAs Halady Srinivas Shetty, T.D. Raje Gowda, K. Raghupati Bhat, V. Sunil Kumar, the former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily, the former Ministers Vinaykumar Sorake, Pramod Madhwaraj, Kimmane Ratnakar, Ramanath Rai and the former MLAs U.R. Sabhapathi and Gopal Poojary were among those who paid their last respects.