SURYAPET: Funeral procession of Colonel Santosh Babu, martyred at the India-China border during the recent face-off between soldiers of the two countries, started from Suryapet where his body reached late night on Wednesday.
The funeral procession was taken till Kesaram village located around 8km away from Suryapet where Babu's family owns a farm and the last rites took place there.
The funeral procession began after last respects were paid to the martyred Army officer by his kin, neighbours and senior politicians including Members of Parliament, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar and Chairman of Telangana Legislative Council, Gutta Sukhender Reddy.
The slain Colonel's body had reached Suryapet from Hyderabad amid honours pouring in from people at many points, all along the route.
As the body arrived in Suryapet, people stood on both sides of the road with lit candles and holding the national flag till the Colonel's house to pay their tributes.
Santosh Babu had a brilliant academic career as a student at the Korukonda Sainik School. He then trained at the National Defence Academy, Pune and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.
He joined the Army in 2004 and his first posting was in Kashmir and was in the 16th Bihar Battalion and one year ago he was deployed at the China border.