Thousands of people turned up on the banks of river Ganga in Haridwar Tuesday to bid a tearful farewell to Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, who died fighting terrorists in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The mortal remains of Major Dhoundiyal were consigned to flames with full state honours at Kharkhari cremation ground. The funeral pyre was lit by the young officer's uncle Jagdish Dhoundiyal in presence of his father-in-law M K Kaul, whose daughter he had married less than a year ago.
State Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik, Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi, Pradesh Congress in-charge Anugrah Nararan Singh and Congress MLA from Dharchula, Harish Dhami, were prominent among those who attended the last rites of the martyr.
Before the last rites of the slain Major were performed in Haridwar, a huge crowd gathered at his residence on Nashville road in Dehradun in the morning to pay homage.
His mother Saroj, a heart patient, his wife Nikita Kaul and a number of relatives and friends were crying inconsolably as the Major's coffin was kept for people to pay their last respects at his residence.
Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat placed a wreath on the coffin to pay tribute to the martyr as chants of "Shaheed Dhoundiyal Amar Rahein" and "Vande Mataram" rent the air.
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People climbed their rooftops and stood on either side of the road leading to the officer's residence to witness the sombre scene with tears in their eyes.
The mortal remains were brought home in a coffin wrapped in the national flag late on Monday night.
The news of Major Dhoundiyal's supreme sacrifice had come when Major Chitresh Bisht's last rites were still underway in Haridwar on Monday.
Major Bisht, also a resident of Dehradun, was killed while defusing a mine near the LoC in Naushera sector of Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
Prominent among those who turned up to pay tribute to the major included Cabinet minister Satpal Maharaj, ex-MP Tarun Vijay, state assembly Speaker Premchand Agarwal, BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi and Dehradun Mayor Sunil Uniyal Gama.