CHANDIGARH: Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) who died on Wednesday in a gun battle with terrorists in Anantnag of Jammu and Kashmir was a third-generation Army officer. He was a native of Bharaunjian village near Chandigarh in SAS Nagar district of Punjab. He is survived by his wife, Jagmeet Grewal, who is an economics teacher with the Haryana government, and two children, six-year-old Kabir Singh and two-year-old Bani Kaur.
Colonel Manpreet's wife along with her two children returned just a fortnight ago after staying with him in Kashmir.
Singh was the seventh member of the family who was in the armed forces, his grandfather and his two brothers were soldiers in British troops, and his father and two of his cousins served in the Indian Army.
A pall of gloom descended on his village and also in Panchakula, as his body is expected to come on Friday and is likely to be cremated the same day, scores of people are turning up at their residences to pay their respects.
"The mortal remains of my son-in-law will reach here tomorrow afternoon as the Army formalities take time.,’’ said Colonel Manpreet Singh's father-in-law Jagdev Singh Grewal, a retired Haryana Government officer'.
He added that his daughter had given a call to her husband and he had told her that he was going in for the operation.
Singh was leading his troops from the front when he received critical gunshot wounds. In 2012 he was decorated with the Sena Medal for gallantry after he neutralized terrorists in J&K. Singh spent almost five years with the same Rashtriya Rifles battalion, the first three as the second-in-command and then as the Commanding Officer. He was about to complete his tenure with Rashtriya Rifles in four months. He was recently honoured with a gallantry award by the Army.
Singh’s uncle said that since childhood, the deceased officer had shown leadership qualities. “He was always smiling and ready to help others,” he said.
Major Aashish Dhonchak hailing from Panipat in Haryana killed one of three killed in action on Tuesday Dhonchak joined the Army in 2013, he is survived by his wife Jyoti and three-year-old daughter Vamika. Major Dhonchak had three sisters. He was planning to visit the family on his birthday next month. While Dhonchak’s family lives in Panipat’s Sector 7, his native village is Binjhol in Panipat district.
As the news of his death spread, villagers and neighbours rushed to his house in Sector 7 of Panipat. His uncle Dilwar Singh said, "We knew there was an operation underway. But we got the news of his death from my son who's also in the Army".
Those who turned up to express grief and be with the families in this tragic hour said the Army should give a befitting reply to the terrorists. "Everyone knows that Pakistan has waged a proxy war. Our Army should give a befitting reply once and for all, so that no mother has to mourn the loss of her son, no sister loses her brother again in this manner, no wife loses her husband and no child loses its father,” said an elderly man who lives in Dhonchak’s neighbourhood in Panipat.
