V P Satyan cremated

The mortal remains of former India football team captain V P Satyan were cremated with full state honours at his native village Chokli in Kannur, Kerala on Wednesday.

Athletes P T Usha, Shiny Wilson, football players including I M Vijayan, C V Papachan, FIFA referee of the 2006 World Cup football match in Germany, P P Lakshmanan, local MLAs Kadannapally Ramachandran, M Prakashan were among those who attended the funeral.

The body of 40-year old Satyan who committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in Chennai yesterday, was brought to Kannur by road and handed over to the Kerala Police at Palakkad at around 1000 hours IST.

Later the body was placed at the M S P Camp at Malappuram and town hall at Kozhikode to enable the public to pay their last respects.

Large number of people, especially shell-shocked football fans converged at his Mekkunnu residence right from morning to pay homage to Satyan who played as main defence for about 15 years taking the Indian team to its golden period along with I M Vijayan and C V Papachan in the 90's.

A familiar figure for the football fans in Kannur, Satyan had played for teams like the Kerala Police, the Mohan Bagan, the Mohammadan Sporting Club and Indian Bank.

Besides he also had worked as coach of the Indian Bank team and assistant coach of the Indian team. Satyan was working as an officer in Indian Bank in Chennai.