Jawans killed in action to be cremated in state today

Mumbai: Sandeep Jadhav and Shravan Mane, the two army jawans from Maharashtra who were killed in an attack by the Pakistani special forces in Jammu & Kashmir on Thursday, will be brought back to their homes in Aurangabad and Kolhapur respectively, where they will be cremated on Saturday. A pall of gloom has descended upon the homes of the duo as their families struggle to come to terms with their loss.

Offices of the collectors of Aurangabad and Kolhapur confirmed that the bodies would be arriving late on Friday evening or early Saturday morning and their last rites would be concluded on Saturday morning itself.

On Thursday, a team of Pakistani special forces had sneaked 600 metres across the Line of Control (LoC) into the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir and killed the two soldiers who belonged to the 15 Maratha Light Infantry. The 34-year-old Jadhav was a native of Kalegao village in Sillod tehsil of Aurangabad district, while Mane, a 24-year-old sepoy, was from Gogave village in Shahuwadi tehsil of Kolhapur district.  

On receiving the news, Jadhav’s father Sarjerao decided not to break the news to his family as they were preparing for the birthday of Jadhav’s two-year-old son Shivam. One of the villagers said, “Sandeep had promised his family that he would be home for Shivam’s birthday.”

Since birthday preparations were in full swing on Thursday, Sarjerao decided not to switch on the news at home after he learnt of his son’s death. But by Friday afternoon, the news had been broken to the family and preparations were on for final rites.