BHOPAL: A Christian family from Indore lost its head, 50-year-old Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) branch manager Sushil Nathaniel, in the terror attack in Pahalgam on Tuesday.
Hailing from Jobat in western MP’s Alirajpur district, Sushil was currently posted as the LIC branch manager in native Alirajpur district, his family comprising a teacher wife, Bank of Baroda-Surat employee daughter Akanksha, and student son Austin resided in Abhinandan Nagar area of Indore.
Sushil, a native of Jobat in Alirajpur district, MP, was posted as the LIC branch manager in Alirajpur. His family including his wife (a teacher), daughter Akanksha (a bank employee in Surat), and son Austin (a student), lived in Indore's Abhinandan Nagar.
“Since Article 370 was abrogated in 2019, Sushil always wanted to be in Kashmir to experience with family the heaven on earth. He finally managed to be there with family, but he’ll never return alive now. His son Goldie told us over phone that the terrorists asked Sushil to kneel down and recite the Kalma, but he wasn't able to as he was a Christian, he saw his father being shot dead by the terrorists,” Sushil’s cousin Sanjay Kumrawat, who also lives in Indore said on Wednesday.
As per Nathaniel's family’s sources in Indore, Sushil shielded his wife by hiding her behind a tree when the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire. His 22-year-old daughter, Akanksha, however, sustained wounds in the leg, but is out of danger, following medical treatment.
The middle-aged Sushil had reached Kashmir with wife and two children just two days before the Pahalgam attack.
“Since he was posted in Alirajpur district and I’m posted in Indore, we were connected more over the phone. I last talked to him over the phone a month back and he was very excited about going to Kashmir. He wanted to be there since the abrogation of Article 370. The terrorists have shot dead those who weren’t from their faith. We stand firmly behind our government and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demand the strongest possible action against the terrorists and their handlers,” Kumrawat demanded.
Back in Sushil’s parental home town, Jobat in Alirajpur district (165 km from Indore), the LIC branch manager’s youngest aunt Susan was seething in anger. “He was posted in Alirajpur district as LIC branch manager for three years, I last talked to him over phone on April 20 when offered me Easter greetings, just a few hours before he left with family on vacation to Kashmir. For how long will we continue to lose our kids to the bullets of terrorists? I appeal to PM Modi that the way they (terrorists) shot our sons publicly, the same way the concerned terrorists should be shot dead on the spot, instead of nabbing them alive and waiting for the court verdict. Why should we show mercy, when they don’t believe in it with us?”
According to the Indore district collector Ashish Singh, the body of Sushil Nathaniel will be flown to Indore in the afternoon. The funeral will take place in Indore only.