J-K LG, Northern army commander, police pay tributes to 5 soldiers killed in Rajouri encounter

Rajouri/Jammu: J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, army officers and police on Friday paid floral tributes to five soldiers who were killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.

The mortal remains of the five army personnel were brought to the Army General Hospital in Jammu from Rajouri where a wreath-laying ceremony was organised.

Sinha, Lt Gen Dwivedi, Chief Secretary Dr A K Mehta, DGP R R Swain, Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar and IGP Anand Jain were among a large number of officials of armed forces, civilians and police who paid tributes to the martyred army men with full military honours.

Those who laid down their lives fighting terrorists were Captain M V Pranjal (63 RR) of Mangalore area of Karnataka, Captain Shubham Gupta (9 Para) of Agra of Uttar Pradesh, Havaldar Abdul Majid (Para) of Ajote in Poonch, J-K; Lance Naik Sanjay Bist of Halli Padli area of Nainital, UK and Paratrooper Sachin Laur of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

The coffins of the martyred army personnel wrapped in the tricolour will be airlifted to their native places from Jammu for their last rites, officials said.

Two terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander trained in Afghanistan, and five soldiers including two captains were killed in a 36-hour-long gunfight with security forces on Wednesday and Thursday in the Bajimaal area of Darmsal.

Captain Pranjal is survived by his wife Aditi G, while Capt Gupta leaves behind his father Basant Kumar Gupta.

Havaldar Majid is survived by his wife Sagera Bi and three children, while Lance Naik Bisht and Paratrooper Laur leave behind their mothers Manju Devi and Bhagvati Devi, respectively.