What was meant to be a celebration of love, family, and dreams turned into one of the bloodiest chapters in recent Kashmir history. The serene valley of Pahalgam, famously known as “Mini Switzerland,” became the site of horror on Tuesday as terrorists opened fire on unsuspecting tourists. At least 28 lives were lost — newlyweds, fathers, sons, and professionals who had come seeking peace but instead met brutality.
Among them was Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, a 26-year-old naval officer from Karnal, Haryana, on his honeymoon with his wife, Himanshi. The couple had married just a week prior, on April 16. Vinay, who had been commissioned into the Navy two years ago, was dining with his wife when he was shot in the head. His grandfather, a retired police officer, recounted how Vinay had always dreamt of serving the armed forces. “He was just a boy when he started asking questions about military vehicles. That dream brought him here — and now, took him away,” he said.
From Karnataka, another family is shattered. Manjunath Rao, 48, a Bengaluru-based realtor, was vacationing with his wife and son to celebrate his son’s excellent results in the Class XII exams — he had scored 96%. They had planned to return home on April 24. Instead, the family is returning with his lifeless body. His wife Pallavi, still numb with shock, recalled the harrowing moment when her husband was gunned down in front of her. “After killing my husband, I asked them to kill me too. One of them said, ‘Nahin marenge, Modi ko boldo’... and walked away,” (We won’t kill you, tell Prime Minister Modi).
Pallavi added that three local Kashmiri men rescued them chanting, “Bismillah, Bismillah.” “They were like my brothers,” she said.
Manjunath’s mother has not been informed about his death. She was told that he was injured in the attack.
Prasant Kumar Satpathy, 43, from Balasore, Odisha, had been saving for months to show his family the snow-clad landscapes of Kashmir. The accounts assistant from CIPET was with his wife and nine-year-old son when he was gunned down near the ropeway. “He just wanted to show us heaven on earth,” his grieving wife told relatives. Now, his younger brother is on his way to bring his body back home.
Shubham Dwivedi, a 31-year-old businessman from Kanpur, had been married for just two months. He was in Pahalgam with 11 family members when he was shot point-blank after terrorists confirmed his identity. His wife Aishanya, who hails from Lucknow, watched in helpless horror. “They asked me who he was. When I said, ‘My husband,’ they shot him in front of me,” she said. The couple had taken a train to Delhi, a flight to Srinagar, and were to return on April 23 — the day of his final journey. . The wedding of Shubham and Aishanya was solemnised in Jhansi on February 12, this year.
In Aruhi village of Bihar’s Rohtas district, sorrow hangs thick in the air. The dusty lanes are unusually quiet, the faces somber. News that Manish Ranjan, an Intelligence Bureau officer, had been gunned down in front of his wife and two young children during the Pahalgam attack has left his entire village — and family across two states — in stunned disbelief.
The 42-year-old officer, originally from Aruhi but posted in Hyderabad, had taken a rare break from work to travel with his wife Asha (also known as Jaya), 12-year-old son, and 8-year-old daughter. It was supposed to be a bonding trip — a pilgrimage and a vacation wrapped into one.
“He was excited about visiting Vaishno Devi. I was going to join them too, but couldn’t go because of my health,” said his uncle Alok Priyadarshi, his voice trembling over the phone. “Now we only want justice from the government. He served the nation — and they shot him in front of his children.”
His family, originally from Rohtas but currently settled in Malda, West Bengal, is shattered. His father, Manglesh Mishra, a retired college teacher, had hoped to see all three of his sons thriving. Now the eldest is gone — leaving behind grieving parents, two brothers employed in government services, and children too young to understand the finality of death.
“He had called me just before leaving,” said his other uncle, Alok Ranjan, from Sasaram. “The kids were excited. The family was happy. But destiny had willed it otherwise.”
32-year-old Syed Adil Hussain Shah, a local horse rider was the sole provider for his family. Adil wasn’t a tourist. He wasn’t part of any convoy. He was one of Kashmir’s own — a man who saddled up horses for visitors, offering them rides through the stunning slopes of Baisaran,That day, he had gone to Pahalgam for work as usual, unaware that he wouldn’t return home again.
When bullets flew, they hit locals and visitors alike. One of them struck Adil, ending a life that had been holding together an entire household.
“We called his phone when we heard about the firing,” said his father, Syed Haider Shah, his voice trembling as he recalled the hours of helpless waiting. “It was switched off. Later, it rang once, but nobody answered. We rushed to the police station. That’s where they told us… my son had been martyred.”
Adil’s family lives in modest conditions — no riches, no safety nets. His work as a horse rider was their only income. Now, his wife, children, elderly parents, and relatives are left shattered, not just by grief but by the uncertainty of what comes next.
“He was our only support,” cried his mother, barely able to speak through her tears. “He fed us, clothed us, did everything. Now, we have nothing.”
His uncle, Shaheed Bug Singh, painted a fuller picture: “Adil had a young family — his wife, his children. He was the eldest son, the backbone of this family. Poor as we are, we could still sleep at night knowing he was there for us. Now we have no one.”
Relatives and neighbours from the region echoed the same pain, and a shared feeling of betrayal. “Adil represented the real Kashmir — hardworking, peace-loving,” said Mohiddin Shah, a relative. “And yet he was gunned down like his life meant nothing. This isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a wound on our Kashmiriyat.”
The Shah family is now pleading for help — financial, emotional, and most of all, judicial. “We want justice,” his father said. “We want answers. Why was an innocent Kashmiri man killed? Who will now take care of his family?”
Across the nation— the reaction is the same: silence, disbelief, and mourning. Entire communities have been left reeling.
Just two days into a long-awaited family vacation, Sushil Nathaniel’s dream of seeing Kashmir turned into a nightmare that would haunt his loved ones forever. The 50-year-old Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) branch manager from Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh, had long yearned to visit the “heaven on earth.”
“He finally made it there… but he’ll never come back,” said Sanjay Kumrawat, Sushil’s cousin, his voice cracking over the phone from Indore.
According to family accounts, when the terrorists began firing indiscriminately, Sushil instinctively shielded his wife, pushing her behind a tree to protect her. In those split seconds, he acted not just as a husband, but as a guardian. Tragically, his protective instincts could not save him.
The family believes Sushil was specifically targeted for being a Christian. "His son told us the terrorists asked him to recite the Kalma and when he couldn’t, they shot him," Kumrawat recounted, his disbelief still raw. “This wasn’t just an attack. It was a hate crime.”
Sushil’s daughter, Akanksha, who works with Bank of Baroda in Surat, sustained a bullet wound in the leg but is out of danger. She had watched the horror unfold. His son Austin, still a student, is now left to grapple with a loss too large for his young years.
The family, shattered and furious, is pleading for justice and demanding accountability. “He died a martyr, but why should our people be gunned down simply because they believe differently?” said Sushil’s aunt Susan from Jobat, overcome with grief and fury.
As preparations began in Indore for Sushil’s last rites, his community remembered him not just as a dedicated LIC officer, but as a loving father, a caring husband, and a man who gave everything for his family—even his life.
Three persons from West Bengal were killed in the terror strike. They have been identified as Bitan Adhikari, who is a resident of Baishnabghata in Kolkata, Sameer Guha, a resident of Behala, and Manish Ranjan from Jhalda in State’s Purulia district.
Thirty-six-year-old Bitan Adhikari, who worked in the US, had returned to Kolkata to spend time with his wife and and his three year old son. A resident of Patuli in Kolkata, Bitan was holidaying in Kashmir with his wife Sohini and his son when he was killed in the terror attack.
The tragic incident has left their families desolate.
According to Bitan’s mother he is the only bread earner of the family after his father retired and they were left shocked and speechless after hearing the news.
His wife said “We were sitting on the grass at Baisaran when suddenly armed men approached, asking who was Hindu and who was Muslim. They immediately shot us. They did not give time. My husband died on the spot.”
Sameer Guha, a Central government employee, had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir with his wife Shabri and their daughter, a Class 12 student. But their planned return to home on Wednesday never materialised.
According to Sameer’s relatives he was instantly shot dead by the assailants when they heard that he came from Kolkata.