It was an emotionally charged final journey for Colonel Bikkumalla Santosh Babu, Commanding Officer of 16th Bihar Regiment, who was killed in a violent face-off with the Chinese troops at Galwan Valley on Monday night. He was laid to rest at his family-owned land at Kesaram in Telangana on Thursday.
A massive crowd saluted, held national flags and banners and raised slogans of ‘Salute to our soldiers!,’ ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai!,’ ‘Vande Mataram!’ and ‘Santosh Babu amar hai!’ as the tricolour-wrapped coffin was brought by the army personnel.
Hailing from Telangana's Suryapet district, Colonel Santosh Babu is survived by his wife Santoshi and his children, aged 9 and 4, who live in Delhi. His first posting was in Jammu and Kashmir.
The body was flown from Delhi in a special aircraft to Hakimpet Air force base near Hyderabad at 8pm. Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Telangana IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao paid their last respects at the airport station before the mortal remains were brought to the family’s land.
The mortal remains of the officer was received by senior government and military officials with full military honours befitting a soldier.
Telangana Pradesh Congress President Uttam Kumar Reddy had met the bereaved family and offered condolences. The Telangana government also announced a solatium of Rs 20 lakh for his family and assured a government job for one of his family members.
People gathered in large numbers at the Suryapet residence to pay their last respects.
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