CHANDIGARH: A pall of gloom descended on the houses of Naib Subedar Jaswinder Singh and Sepoy Gajjan Singh soon after the news of their death reached their families. The two were martyred in an encounter in Jammu & Kashmir on Monday. Both had spoken to their families two days back and Jaswinder had told his near ones that he would be coming home in November. Gajjan had said he would home after just three days.
The 39-year-old Jaswinder of Kapurthala was the youngest in the family. His father Harbhajan Singh had retired from Indian Army as a Captain. His brother Rajinder was also in the army. Jaswinder had come home in May after his father died.
“My brother called us two days back. He said he would take leave in November for rituals to be conducted a few months after the death of a person. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that we would never him again and perform his last rights,” said Rajinder.
Jaswinder is survived by wife Sukhpreet, 13-year-old son Vikramjeet and 11-year-old daughter Harnoor. His mother is Manjit Kaur. The family does farming, while his elder brother works as a private security guard. Gajjan, 27, was from Ropar district. He is survived by his parents, three elder brothers and wife. “He got married in February. Today we get this heartbreaking news,” said a relative, adding that the news of his death has not been shared with his family because his mother is unwell.
He was the youngest of four brothers. They have two acres of land and his brothers are farmers. The third solider who died was Naik Mandeep Singh of Chalha village in Gurdaspur district. The Punjab CM announced ex-gratia grant of Rs. 50 lakh and a government job to one member of the families of the slain armymen from the state. Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal mourned the demise of the soldiers.