By IANS
Jammu : Hundreds of people joined the funeral procession of Capt. Sunil Kumar Choudhary, who was killed in Assam Sunday while fighting the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) terrorists, a day after he was named a recipient of Sena Medal for gallantry on Republic Day.
Men, women and children gathered in large numbers at Sunil’s house in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, Tuesday to receive his body.
Sunil was killed in a counter-insurgency operation at Barapathar in Assam’s Tinsukia district.
He had killed two ULFA militants even after being shot in the neck. He later succumbed to his injuries.
“It is a moment of great grief for all of us,” Jagdev Khajuria, a resident of Kathua town who was among hundreds waiting to receive the body since early morning, told reporters.
“The boy did the people of Kathua proud but at the cost of his life,” he said.
The body covered in the national tricolour was brought in a cavalcade from Pathankot to his residence.
The Choudhary family had started celebrations Saturday after they came to know that Sunil was on the list of Sena Medal winners.
Sunil’s father Lt. Col. P.L. Choudhary told reporters that he did not know what to say at this moment.
“The boy did me proud one day and the next day he was gone. Today his body has been consigned to flames,” said Choudhary.