Villagers bid adieu to martyr Sandeep Sawant

Kolhapur: The last rites of Sandeep Sawant—the 25-year-old soldier who lost his life while fighting infiltrators in Jammu and Kashmir—were performed with full state honours at his native place in Mundhe on Friday.

The district administration received Sawant’s mortal remains kept in a coffin wrapped in the tricolour in Karad on Friday morning. Soldiers took out a procession from Karad’s Vijay Chowk to Shahu Chowk via Kolhapur Naka to Munde village, where thousands of residents congregated for the last rites.

Thousands of citizens gathered at national highway 4 to get a last glimpse of the

martyr

, who had visited his village just a fortnight ago to see his two-month infant. Chants of “Sandeep Sawant Amar Rahe” reverberated the air when the procession began from Vijay Chowk.

The roads leading up to the village were decorated with flowers in the tricolour and rangoli. Emotions ran high among the

villagers

when the Maratha Light Infantry offered respects by opening two rounds of fire and blew the bugle. Sawant’s elder brother Sagar, who in an emotionally vulnerable state, lit the pyre.

MP Srinivas Patil and MLA Prithviraj Chavan were among a host of political leaders present for the last rites. Satara district collector Shweta Singhal and superintendent of police Tejaswi Satpute offered their condolences to the slain soldier’s family.

Sawant lost his life on Wednesday morning while fighting infiltrators in Naushera sector, Jammu and Kashmir. He hailed from Mundhe village in Karad taluka of Satara district. He is survived by his father, mother, wife and a two-month-old daughter.

The Maratha Light Infantry Naik spotted a few infiltrators, who were trying to cross the border. Sandeep was accompanied by Arjun Thapa Magar of Gorkha Rifles. Both of them opened fire at the infiltrators. The Indian Army cordoned the area from where the infiltrators were trying to cross the border. However, Sawant and Thapa were seriously injured in the cross firing and later succumbed to their injuries.