Mortal remains of Captain Pranjal, who died fighting terrorists, to arrive in Bengaluru today

Bengaluru: The mortal remains of Captain M V Pranjal who was killed during an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, will arrive in Bengaluru on Friday, Defence sources said.

The 29-year-old from 63 Rashtriya Rifles lost his life during an exchange of fire with terrorists in the Rajouri sector on Wednesday.

"Mortal remains of Capt Pranjal will arrive today at around 8 PM at HAL airport. Thereafter the mortal remains will be taken to his residence at Bannerghatta," the sources said. "Wreath laying and guard of honour will take place on Saturday morning followed by last rites." Son of M Venkatesh, retired Managing Director of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), Pranjal did his schooling at Surathkal in Dakshina Kannada district.

In a statement, MRPL said: "We extoll the brave sacrifice of our martyr, Capt M V Pranjal, who gave away his life serving the nation. The event profoundly saddens us, the MRPL family, as Capt Pranjal was our own. He was the only child of our ex-MD, Shri M Venkatesh and Madam Anuradha Venkatesh." MRPL's Delhi Public School, where Captain Pranjal studied, remembered him as a soft-spoken, sensitive and mature individual and one loaded with values. He achieved the honour of being a 'Rashtrapati Scout'.

"The school is proud of him. He has motivated his junior scouts even as an alumnus by contributing to mentoring them". "He was excellent in hands-on activities in the Science classes and thus qualified in the CBSE Regional level Science Exhibition & participated actively with his teammates at the national level as well...we had the honour of having him to be the chief guest during school celebration," the school said in a statement.

After he did his engineering and academic mentoring programme, he cracked the NDA and joined the Indian Army. "He would always say 'yes', always visit school with his classmates to meet all the teachers, admin staff and all the housekeeping staff with his cheerful smile", it added.