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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
PUNE, Sept 16: The mortal remains of Captain Nitin Chavan were consigned to flames with full military honours in a touching ceremony at the Kailash Crematorium in Khadki here today.
Captain Nitin Chavan lost his life this Monday while combating militants in the Rajouri sector in Jammu and Kashmir. The city mourned the loss of the 23 year old brave young man who died a hero in defence of his motherland. Citizens spontaneously came out in large numbers and stood across the road waiting to pay homage to the soldier.
Tragically around this time last year, Captain Chavan lost his mother who died in a road accident in the Bhor Ghat when she was on her way to offer thanksgiving prayers to God for making her son an officer. Captain Chavan is survived by his father Prakash Chavan and sister Smita. His mortal remains were brought to the city by a special flight on Wednesday evening.
The body was then taken to MH Hospital, Khadki and was brought to his residence at Tingrenagar at 7 am today. `Sunanda Niwas' - the home of the Chavan family was thronged by mourners who came to pay their last respects to the young man. Some of his friends from INS Shivaji where he had completed a course, were also present for the funeral. The city had recently lost another brave soldier Captain Amit Varma in the Kargil conflict.
The atmosphere in Tingrenagar and the neighbouring areas Vishrantwadi was surcharged with emotion. Local residents may have never seen him since the family had shifted to this house two months ago. Yet they were badly shaken by the incident. Emotionally moved citizens gave vent to their feelings by drawing colourful rangolis in almost every square in Tingrenagar, Kalas village and Vishrantwadi which remained closed today as a mark of respect. Chief Minister Narayan Rane and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde who later joined the funeral procession and were present at the crematorium, laid wreaths as a sign of respect.
The procession that began from Tingrenagar was delayed by over an hour as the two ministers failed to turn up on time. Once the procession began, it took almost two more hours to reach the crematorioum in BEG Sapras. The air was rent with cries such as `Captain Nitin Chavan Amar Rahe' and `Pakistan Murdabad'. Children from all the neighbouring school stood with national flags to pay homage to Chavan. These include Himgiri Vidyalaya, Ramabai Ranware High School, C Ranganathan Karnabadhir School, R & DE Dighi School and Nanasaheb Parulekar School. Citizens offered floral tributes at almost every chowk.
A broken man, Prakash Chavan, who retired as a Havildar in the Bombay Engineer Group, lit the pyre amidst vedic chants. Soldiers of Captain Chavan's regiment 115, Engineer Regiment were the pall bearers at the funeral and the salute was given by the soldiers of Bombay Engineer Group (BEG) & Centre. Brig (Dr) Mrinal Suman, outgoing commandant of BEG and president of the Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB), Brig Vijay Aga, new commandant of BEG, LT Gen S B S Kocchar, commandant, National Defence Academy (NDA), Brig A K Puri, commandant, College of Military Engineering (CME), former Air Chief Marshal Hrishikest Moolgavkar, Brig N B Grant and other senior army officials were present on the occasion.
Political leaders including Congress leader Mohan Joshi, former MP Vitthal Tupe, PMC Mayor Dattatreya Gaikwad, KCB vice president Baliram Sawant and BJP Corporator Ujjwal Keskar were also present. Col H K Jha, deputy general manager (Security) of Bank of Baroda, and deputy general manager of Maharashtra and Goa zone R V Solanki also offered floral tributes on behalf of chairman K K Kannan.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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