Sitamarhi, Jan. 4: A pall of gloom has descended on the Sitamarhi house of a defence personnel Rajiv Kumar alias Raja, who was killed in a terrorists' attack on the Indian airbase at Pathankot in Punjab on Saturday. Rajiv, a native of Balha village Pupari block of the district, is survived by his wife and a 2-year-old son.

The deceased jawan's grandfather, Surendra Narayan Thakur, said the family received the news from a relative of Muzaffarpur (Vinod Thakur) on Saturday night. Rajiv had come to his ancestral house to observe Chhath with the family, Thakur recalled.

He said he was proud of the heroic act of Rajiv. "My grandson died a hero's death like a true soldier," the septuagenarian Thakur said with a heavy heart.

The deceased jawan's father Ashok Thakur is posted in Jharkhand-based Lalpania thermal power station as a clerk. "Ashok reached home after hearing the shocking news last night," the grandfather told The Telegraph over phone from Sitamarhi.

Rajiv had joined the Indian Army in 2008. Third among the three siblings of Ashok, Rajiv got married in 2009. His younger brother Ranjan Kumar is an engineer in the US. The death of Rajiv has sent shock waves among the residents of the village.

It was a blend of heart-rending scenes and proud moments as relatives and friends gathered at Rajiv's house on Monday.