Hundreds of people gathered at the Pogarwadi village in Satara district as the mortal remains of Colonel Santosh Mahadik, who died in Kashmir battling terrorists, were consigned to flames with full mi
Hundreds of people gathered at the Pogarwadi village in Satara district as the mortal remains of Colonel Santosh Mahadik, who died in Kashmir battling terrorists, were consigned to flames with full military honours.
The 39-year-old martyr’s body was taken to his mother’s house in the neighbouring Aaray village, where defence minister Manohar Parrikar paid homage to him.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had paid tributes to Colonel Mahadik in Pune on Wednesday night when the Army officer’s mortal remains were brought there on the way to Satara.
A large number of villagers from various communities gathered at the cremation site to pay their respects to the martyr. With teary eyes, the mourning villagers bid adieu to the son who made them proud.
Born in a family of modest means at Pogarwadi, Colonel Mahadik set the foundation to his journey of becoming an Army officer when he joined the Sainik School in Class 6 in 1987. Later, he went on to join the Army.
His father was a tailor and brother a milkman. A wife and two children, who were present during the cremation, survive Colonel Mahadik.
He was one of the best boxers of his school and goalkeeper of the school’s state champion football team. According to his schoolmates, his father used to call him Santoo. A friend while recollecting an old memory said, “He defeated me in a boxing match and when I congratulated him in front of his father, his father said that this was not the fight that his son needed to win. His dad told me that his son’s real fight would be at the borders protecting the nation and that his son would always be victorious.”
