The mortal remains of Constable Sanjay Gadpale, killed in an IED blast in Kanker, were cremated in his native village. He got engaged a month ago and was to marry in 2027. Three other security personnel also lost their lives in the blast.
The mortal remains of Constable Sanjay Gadpale, who was killed along with three others in an IED blast in Chhotebethiya, Kanker district, were cremated with full honours in his native village of Haradula on Saturday. According to his relatives, Gadpale had got engaged a month ago and was scheduled to marry in January 2027.
The other security personnel who died in the incident were Inspector Sukhram Vatti, Constable Krishna Komra, and Constable Parmanand Korram. They also lost their lives in the blast during a routine operation to recover Maoist dumps in Bastar division, Chhattisgarh Police said on Saturday.
'He was the primary support': Family grieves
The incident has left the family in deep shock as Gadpale was the primary support for the household. Sharing his grief, Gadpale's father, Suresh Gadpale, said the family had depended heavily on him. "He had been in this job for almost four years. And such an accident happened in just four years, and he was the eldest son in the family. I had somehow managed to get him a job. I don't own any land or anything, but the house was running on his support. Now who will take care of us? His wedding was in January. All preparations are in place... We hadn't spoken before the incident. Before going on searches, he always used to inform us that his phone would be off for two days. But this time, we were not aware that we were going for this," he told ANI on Sunday.
His uncle also remembered Gadpale as a dedicated and patriotic young man who had always aspired to serve in uniform. "Sanjay Gadpale was my nephew. He got this job in 2022. He had been enthusiastic about the army, the police line, and other such fields since the beginning, and wanted to work in a line where he could serve the nation... He was about to get married soon," his uncle told ANI.
Official police statement
Inspector General of Bastar Range Sundarraj P said the incident occurred in the forest area of Adnar on the border of Narayanpur and Kanker districts. "In the Bastar division, in the years 2025 and 2026, a large number of Maoist cadres have renounced the path of violence and come forward for rehabilitation. Based on information provided by them and based on information available to the police, security forces are continuously recovering Maoist dumps containing IEDs, weapons, arms, ammunition, shells, and other materials," he told ANI.
He said that on May 2, a Kanker DRG team had gone to recover a Maoist dump when the incident occurred. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)