Gunner Shashikant Pandey (24), one of the three soldiers martyred after terrorists opened fire at an Army convoy at Pampore, Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, was a Dhanbad youth.
The body of Shashikant, of the 51 Rashtriya Rifles of Indian Army at Srinagar, arrived in Ranchi on an IndiGo flight on Sunday evening, and will reach Dhanbad on Monday.
Pandey's family in Jealgora, 15km from Dhanbad district headquarters, is torn between grief and pride. Rajeshwar Pandey, his father, said he received the news over phone on Saturday evening.
"I am proud of my son who made the supreme sacrifice for our motherland," the senior Pandey, 60, a petty contractor, said stoically on Sunday.
"He (Shashikant) was known as Vivek among family and friends. He was very jovial, full of life. He had joined the Indian Army on December 17, 2012, and coincidentally was martyred exactly four years later," said elder brother Srikant, with CRPF 154th battalion, Pradhankhanta, Dhanbad.
Srikant and their mother Lalita Devi, who had gone to their native place Motihari in Bihar on personal work, returned to Jealgora on Sunday morning after hearing the news.
Death on duty is not unknown to Srikant. He himself was the recipient of a gallantry award for a combat with Naxalites on the Giridih-Jamui border on January 14, 2014, where his deputy commandant Hira Jha had been killed.
Speaking about his brother, Srikant said Shashikant studied in Gyan Bharti School, Jorapokhar, and did his intermediate science from RSP College, Jharia. "We were overjoyed when he was selected in the Army through a recruitment drive in Ranchi," he said.
His married sister Rinku Chaubey said Shashikant was an extremely bright student. "He was very good in maths," she said, to which Srikant and younger sister Sindhu agreed.
Baghmara MLA Dhullu Mahto consoled the family and promised to do his bit to rename Jorapokhar Chowk into Shaheed Shashikant Pandey Chowk. A police team led by Sindri DSP Vikas Pandey and Jorapokhar thana OC Jayprakash, Jharia circle officer N. Singh also met the family.
"We will give a heroic farewell to our dear brother Shashikant Pandey who lost his life in a terrorist attack," said Dhanbad DC A. Dodde.
Around 40 ex-servicemen from the Army, Navy and Air Force, under the banner of Purv Sainik Seva Parishad, gathered at Gandhi Seva Sadan to mourn Shashikant's death on Sunday.
They also expressed concerns over how retired soldiers were treated. "Many retired Subedars are offered Class IV railway jobs that do not befit their stature," said R.N. Mishra, a former Army Naik. "Families of many martyred soldiers languish in penury. There is an emotional outburst after any soldier's death, but everything fades into oblivion."
