Tearful farewell for soldier killed in Kupwara

The last rites of Naik Gawade Pandurang Mahadev, who lost his life during a security operation in Kashmir’s Kupwara Sector, were performed with full military honours at his native village of Sindudurg in  Maharashtra’s coastal Konkan region.

Large number of people from nearby villages gathered at the funeral to pay their last respects to the soldier.

Naik Gawade Pandurang Mahadev had been critically injured in a fierce encounter that resulted in the elimination of five heavily armed terrorists on May 21 in Durgmulla, Kupwara.

The soldier was part of the column which initially located and engaged the terrorists hiding in a cluster of houses. He was evacuated to the Military Hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.

His mortal remains arrived in Goa Monday evening and were kept at Panaji’s military hospital for the night.

After a solemn ceremony Tuesday morning when the Commandant, Signal Training Centre, Goa, Brigadier SK Agarwal laid a wreath, Mahadev’s body was transported to his native village of Amboli.