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‘I will return after the lockdown’: India Army braveheart’s last message to family
“I didn’t know he would never come,” late Indian Army soldier Deepak Singh Gaharwar’s grandmother said.
Indian Army soldier Deepak Singh Gaharwar, one of the 20 bravehearts who lost their lives in the face-off with Chinese soldiers in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on Monday night, had told his family about his return after the Covid-19 lockdown.
About 15 days back, Gaharwar told his family members that he would return when the situation gets back to normal after the Covid-19 lockdown.
Deepak Singh, 30, hailed from Faranda village in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, about 536 kilometres northeast of Bhopal. His wife, Rekha, works as a teacher at a Navoday school. The couple got married in November last year.
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A pall of gloom engulfed the village when the news of Singh’s sacrifice reached his family on Wednesday morning.
He was the younger son of Gajraj Singh Gaharwar, a farmer. Singh lost his mother in his childhood. He was raised by his father and grandmother Phoolmati Devi. They were inconsolable when they heard about his demise.
Singh’s elder brother Prakash Singh also serves the Army and is posted at the India-Pak border in Rajasthan, the family shared.
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His grandmother said, “He talked to me about a fortnight back. He told me, ‘Dadi tum pareshaan mat hona. Main lockdown khatam hote hi aaunga (Don’t worry. I will come home after lockdown restrictions are lifted)’. I didn’t know he would never come.”
Singh’s cousin Sachin Singh said, “He called me up about the same time when he talked to his family. Since he was posted as a nursing assistant at the border, it was difficult to talk to him. Often, there would be no mobile network. He was the most adorable person in our village. He respected all and everyone had respect for him.”
“This is the time when we must teach a lesson to China that it doesn’t dare to indulge in such a crime again,” the agitated cousin said.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan paid tributes to the soldier with a salute to his sacrifice for the nation and a patriotic verse. State Congress president Kamal Nath too paid condolences on the demise of the soldier.
(With input from Vijay Vishwakarma in Rewa)
