NEW DELHI, INDIA - The family of a murdered Indian gang-rape victim said their final prayers for the 23-year-old student at the start of a cremation ceremony at a funeral ground in New Delhi on Sunday, December 30, police sources said.

"The cremation ceremony has begun. We are requesting that people do not enter the cremation ground as the family has asked that it is a private affair," one senior officer stationed outside the gates told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Her body is to be cremated on a funeral pyre at the end of the ceremony in the southwestern Dwarka district of the Indian capital.

Another officer said that several senior politicians were present at the cremation ground "to express their grief to the family."

Large numbers of police were on duty around the site of the ceremony which was being held less than 4 hours after the victim's body was flown back from Singapore where she had died of her injuries on December 29.

The victim, whose family live in the state of Uttar Pradesh, has not been named. - Rappler.com