Mumbai: Two CRPF troopers from Maharashtra are among the 44 killed in the suicide attack on Thursday in Jammu & Kashmir. They are Nitin Shivaji Rathod of Chorpangra village and Sanjay Rajput from Malkapur village, both in Buldhana district in Vidarbha, eastern part of the state.
Both the martyrs were on leave for 50 days and had resumed the duty on February 11, just three days before they were killed in a terror attack. Hailing from a farming family, Rathod, 36, joined the security forces of Battalion-3 in 2006 in Assam, said his younger brother Pravin S Rathod. Later, in 2008, he was married to Vandana, who is a housewife and the couple have two minor children — Jeevan, 8 and Jivika, 5.
“We are shattered by the news which were received shortly after midnight on Thursday. Our aged parents Shivaji Rathod and Savitribai are also inconsolable,” Pravin Rathod, who is a farmer helping his parents, said. As per preliminary information available, the second soldier, Rajput is survived by his wife Sushma and further details of when their bodies shall be reaching Buldhana for the last rites are awaited. Rajput lost his brother in road accident seventh month ago. He was originally hailed from a Chirane village in Dhule district. His family later shifted to Malkapur in Buldhana.