Khargram (WB): Mortal remains of Assam Rifles (AR) personnel Shyamal Das were brought home here in Murshidabad on Monday as tributes poured in amid occasional outpouring of grief.
The cortege carrying the body of Rifleman Das, who was killed in an ambush in Manipur with six others, reached his village Kirtipur by road from Panagarh air force station, where it was flown in from Imphal.
Hundreds of people stood on two sides of the road to pay respects to Das as the cortege slowly made its way to his residence.
Das, who had joined the country’s oldest paramilitary force 11 years ago, last visited home before Durga Puja and had promised to return again during Nabanna (harvest celebration in Bengal), his wife recounted.
“He stayed at home for 20 days on his return from Delhi, where he had gone for some training,” she said.
Apart from wife, the slain soldier left behind his eight-year old daughter, who studies in Class 1, and aged parents, according to family sources.
“He had spoken to me over phone on Saturday morning and said he would call again in the evening after returning to his quarters; instead the call came from his office with the news (of his death),” the wife said, breaking down in tears.
The soldier’s childhood friends and neighbours, as well people from nearby hamlets, gathered at his modest household since morning to accord a hero’s welcome to his remains, which arrived in a coffin draped in Tricolour.
The coffin was kept outside the house for some time for people to offer tribute, with several senior officials of Murshidabad district paying a visit.
The slain rifleman was honoured with a gun salute by Army jawans before his body was taken for funeral.
A commanding officer of the Assam Rifles, his wife and son, along with four other personnel of the force, including Das, lost their lives in a militant ambush in Churachandpur district of Manipur on Saturday.
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