Thiruvananthapuram, Nov. 27: The death of Maniappan Raman Kutty, the driver beheaded by the Taliban, has stirred fear among Kerala families having relatives working in Afghanistan.

Since Wednesday, people from three villages in Alappuzha district have been streaming into Maniappan’s house asking what really happened.

Maniappan was working on the strategic Zaranj-Delaram road being built by the Border Roads Organisation when he was kidnapped and killed.

At least 15,000 people from the Chingoli, Muthukulam and Keerikad villages have relatives working in the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF), a sister concern of the BRO. These three villages comprise the “GREF pocket” of Kerala.

At the moment, there are some 60 Keralites working on projects sponsored by the Indian government in Afghanistan. The Zaranj-Delaram road is one such project undertaken under the $550-million aid package and includes a power transmission line and a microwave television network.

Maniappan had joined the BRO in 1991 with the help of his maternal uncles, Anandan and Krishnankutty. “He accepted the job with the hope of shifting to the army later,” Krishnankutty said.

Maniappan was a hard-working and simple person who endeared himself to people wherever he went, he said.

N. Mohanan, a member of the Retired GREF Employees’ Association in Keerikkad, said most people from Chingoli, Muthukulam and Keerikkad were posted in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Punjab.

They made a beeline to join the GREF, though they were posted in trouble-torn areas, because of lack of job opportunities, he said.