Video Editor: Varun Sharma
Major Chitresh Bisht was to come home later this month for his marriage. He did come but in a coffin wrapped in the national flag.
The Bisht household in Dehradun’s Nehru Colony echoed with wails as the Major's mortal remains were brought home on Monday, 18 February, from the army hospital in the city where it was kept on Sunday.
A large crowd comprising Army men, policemen, politicians, relatives, friends and people in general thronged the young army officer's home to pay their last respects as his coffin borne by Army men entered the gates.
His distraught mother wept inconsolably near the coffin as his father SS Bisht, a retired police officer, tried to comfort her even as he fought back his own tears.
Just a day after Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 CRPF men were brutally killed, 31-year-old Major Bisht was killed while defusing a mine along the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir.
The family was preparing for the officer's marriage on 7 March when it was shattered by the news on Saturday evening.
Major Bisht was to come home on 28 February for his marriage.
A large number of politicians including Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, a host of BJP leaders and MLAs including Pradesh party president Ajay Bhatt, legislators Vinod Chamoli, Ganesh Joshi and Munna Singh Chauhan besides former CM and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat placed a wreath on the officer's coffin to pay their homage.
Uttarakhand DGP Anil Raturi and ADG Ashok Kumar were also among a host of senior police officials who turned up to pay their tribute to the Army man.
Chants of "Major Bisht Amar Rahein" filled the air as the coffin borne on the shoulders of Army men was lifted to proceed for Haridwar for the last rites with wailing relatives and friends following behind.
Bisht was leading a bomb disposal squad team for sanitisation when mines were detected on the track in Naushera sector on Saturday, 15 February, a defence spokesman said.
He said the team defused one of the mines successfully but while neutralising another mine, the device got activated and the officer suffered grievous injuries and attained martyrdom.
Another solider was injured in the blast and was admitted to a hospital, the officials said.
"The officer was a brave and sincere soldier. The nation will always remain indebted to him for the supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty," the spokesman said.
Earlier, the officials said the blast was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and was allegedly planted by "enemy forces within the Indian territory".
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