The terror attack on the Air Force station in Pathankot will haunt Madhu Radha forever. As the bullets began flying, she, her mother and her brother took refuge under a bed. However, even as she was hiding under her bed, the terrorists took something precious away from her — her father’s life.
Honorary Captain Fateh Singh, who had won medals and accolades in the Commonwealth shooting competitions in Delhi in 1995, was transferred as a personnel of the defence security corps (DSC) from Orissa to Pathankot Air Base.
Madhu Radha, 25, who teaches in a Mhow school, had come with her mother Shobha Rani and brother Nitin to spend her winter holidays with her father in Pathankot when the terrorists decided to strike.
Read | Commonwealth gold medallist among those martyred in Pathankot
{{/usCountry}}Read | Commonwealth gold medallist among those martyred in Pathankot
{{/usCountry}}Speaking to Hindustan Times on Monday, Madhu Radha said that her Fateh Singh had just stepped of his quarters on Saturday when the firing started. Ordered to switch off all lights, the family stayed hidden under the bed, till an uncle posted with the Dogra Regiment came to their rescue and took them to his quarters.
She said that her mother had come to know about Fateh’s death, but hid the fact from her brother and her. The siblings only came to know that their father had been martyred after the family arrived at their native village.
Madhu Radha said that her father was unarmed when he happened to spot two of the terrorists. He snatched a gun from one of them and killed the two, but suffered fatal injuries in the process, sustaining two bullet wounds.
Her father, she recalled proudly, was not afraid of anything and always advised others to only speak th truth.
Fateh Singh was cremated with military and civil honours at his native Jhanda Gujjaran village in Gurdaspur district on Monday.
Read | Martyr Fateh’s son too wants to don olive green