One would have become a proud papa in three months while the other would have walked down the aisle in 27 days. Fate willed otherwise and on Wednesday, Major Dinesh Raghu Raman and Major K P Vinay were killed in a 40-hour long gunfight with militants in Jammu and Kashmir.
The two young Army officers from the south were killed in a fierce encounter in Baramulla district. While Major Vinay died on the spot, Major Dinesh succumbed to injuries in the hospital a few hours later.
“This is an unfortunate incident. However, it does not reflect on the militancy trend in Jammu and Kashmir. The situation is better now,” Defence Minister A K Antony said on the sidelines of a ministry function.
But nothing will console Latha Kumari, the wife of Major Dinesh who had come back from London for her delivery.
In Bangalore Major Vinay’s death has shattered his would-be in Bangalore.
The wedding was to happen on October 29. Major Vinay — commissioned in the 37-medium regiment in 1999 — had started distributing wedding cards among his buddies and superiors. On September 29, he had called up his father K R Prabhakar, asking for more invitation cards.
The bullet-ridden bodies of the Majors have been flown to Delhi on Thursday evening.
Vinay’s body will be sent to Hyderabad whereas Dinesh’s cremation will be carried out with full military honour in the cantonment on Friday, Army officials told Deccan Herald.
While Chennai-based Dinesh was commissioned in the Army in 1999 in the 19 Jat regiment, 30-year-old Vinay’s family is settled in Hyderabad. They had shifted to Hyderabad from Bangalore after Vinay’s father got a job in the National Academy of Agriculture Research Management.
Troop withdrawal
Asked whether the government was rethinking troop withdrawal from the Valley in the wake of the incident, the defence minister said that a high-level committee chaired by the defence secretary had submitted its report.
New Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, meanwhile, is flying to Udhampur and Srinagar on Friday to meet the soldiers from 34 Rashtriya Rifles who were involved in the 40-hour gun battle. Nine terrorists were killed in the incident.
