Martyr cremated at birthplace

Martyred soldier Shankar Chandrabhan Shinde was cremated with full military honours at his birthplace, Bhayale village of Chandwad tehsil of Nashik district, on Monday.

Major General J.S. Bedi, Brigadier P.R. Murali, Air Commodore Vibhas Pande, Police Superintendent Sanjay Mohite, BJP leader Dr Atmaram Kumbharde, politicians and thousands of villagers paid homage to the son of the soil.

Shinde (35) had died in a fight with terrorists in Kupwara. His body was brought to Ojhar Air Force airport by a special Indian Air Force plane on Sunday evening.

The soldier is a resident of Bhayale. Another martyr who also died in the fight – Sahadev Maruti More – is from Vijapur in Karnataka.

Villager Trimbak Aher said that both his sons were in the army and he was a proud father. “My son Haridas Aher was in the same unit with Shinde,” he said with pride.

Shinde’s cousin and Naik Subedar Kailash Shinde said that the family should be given condolences in this hour. The family still lives in a single room with mud walls and a corrugated iron sheet roof.

Shinde is the sixth soldier from Chandwad tehsil, who was martyred for the country. The names of other martyrs were given as Dada Laxman Devre, Pandhirinath Bhaskar Pagar, Rajbhau Purkar, Suresh Snawane and Rajendra Kisan Shelke.

Readers may recall that terrorists had holed up in a house in Marsari village on Friday night. Jawans of National Rifles, Grenadiers and Maratha Regiment along with police surrounded the area and were fired upon by the terrorists. The firefight continued till Saturday afternoon in which two Jawans and five terrorists were killed.

Shinde is survived by his wife Suvarna, six-year-old daughter Vaishnavi and one-and-a-half-year-old son Om, father Chandrabhan, mother Sumanbai, brother Keshav, sisters Lata and Sushila. His cousin brother said that Shankar joined the Army when he was 17 years old, and he was posted in Kashmir.