Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday confirmed that 39 Indians, who went missing in Mosul in Iraq in the year 2014 have been killed.

Speaking at Rajya Sabha, Swaraj said that the dreaded terror outfit Islamic State (IS) had killed all the Indian nationals.

To this Congress MP Shashi Tharoor castigated the government asking why it gave ‘false hope’.

He said: “Sad news of the confirmation of the deaths of 39 Indians in Iraq. Thoughts & prayers are w/their families. But why did the Govt give false hope to the nation for three and a half years that the people were still alive? That was disappointing behaviour.

Meanwhile, Captain Amarinder Singh wrote on Twitter: “Shattered at the heart-wrenching news from @SushmaSwaraj that the 39 Indians missing in Iraq, most of whom were Punjabis, are dead. My heart goes out to the families who had been living in hope since their reported abduction by ISIS in 2014. Prayers with all of them.

In July last year, Swaraj had firmly said in the Parliament that she would not declare the 39 Indians dead without concrete proof or evidence.

"It is a sin to declare a person dead without concrete evidence. I will not do this sin," Swaraj said in a statement in the Lok Sabha in 2017.