Classmates of slain Army officer send Diwali sweets for unit jawans

Mumbai: Classmates of an Army officer from Maharashtra, who laid down his life battling militants near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, have sent 300 kg sweets to soldiers in his unit.

Col Santosh Mahadik, the Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, was critically injured during the operation in the Haji Naka forest area of Kupwara in November 2015 and succumbed to his injuries at a hospital later.

The “mithai” boxes, weighing 300 kg, landed at Srinagar airport from Chandigarh in an Air Force transport aircraft and were delivered to personnel of the 41 Rashtriya Rifles, for distribution among the soldiers the martyr once commanded, a classmate of Col Mahadik, involved in this initiative, told PTI.

Col Mahadik was an alumnus of Sainik School, Satara in Maharashtra.

“Like we do every Diwali, this time also we thought of his comrades in arms, who suffer harsh climes and the enemy from across the border. We thought this would be a nice gesture for soldiers, who spend Diwali away from their families,” he said.

An officer from the elite 21 Para-Special Forces unit, Col Mahadik was awarded a Sena Medal for gallantry during Operation Rhino in the North-East in 2003.

An ace football goalkeeper, a skilled horse-rider and a tough boxer, Col Mahadik was an all-rounder, his friends recalled.

Despite the inhospitable terrain that made the Kupwara operation immensely challenging, the colonel particularly chose to lead his unit.

Col Mahadik’s classmates, who include several serving and retired officers from the armed forces, have launched the initiative which they call ‘Operation Diwali’.

The sweets reached Kupwara on Friday and will be taken to the border posts where they will be distributed among the soldiers, a classmate of Col Mahadik said.