india

Updated: Feb 17, 2019 11:53 IST

One of the oldest among the 42 CRPF jawans who died in the Pulwama suicide attack, head constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha, 45, had planned to get his elder daughter married in April-May.

Resident of Masaurhi, rural Patna, Sinha has two adult daughters. He had come home in January on a month’s leave to fix his daughter’ marriage, but no headway was made in this regard, said family members. He returned to Jammu on February 8 to rejoin his battalion and had told the family members that he would take a 15-day long leave next month to finalise the marriage date of his daughter, Ruby.

A bereaved, Mahendra Prasad, an ex-serviceman and father of the slain CRPF head constable said, “Around 7: 30 pm, my daughter-in-law, slain Sanjay’s wife, Shakuntala Devi, got an anonymous call from Srinagar stating Sanjay has been badly injured in an explosion. Minutes later, we learnt that he was no more. I was a soldier and so was my son. He willingly stepped into my shoes and decided to service the India’s military. I regret he did not die fighting the enemy.”

The veteran soldier kept strong and minced no words stating that he would not lament even if his younger son, Shankar Singh, also serving the CRPF and currently posted in Bihar’s Nalanda, died fighting the country’s enemy.

Sinha’s youngest daughter, Tunni, fainted on umpteen occasions since Thursday. She said before leaving for Jammu, he had assured her that he would fulfill all her pending demands in his next visit.