Army personnel and villagers pay tributes to Maj Amit Deswal at his native Surheti village in Jhajjar on Friday

Chief of Army Staff, Gen Dalbir Singh, and his wife Namita Suhag console the martyr’s wife, Neeta, and father Rishiraj Deswal during the homage-paying ceremony at Palam Airport in New Delhi on Friday. Tribune photos

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, April 15

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed as the body of martyr Major Amit Deswal (31) arrived at his residence in HUDA Sector-6 here today. Major Deswal was killed in an encounter with terrorists in Manipur on Wednesday nightAmit’s mother Vedvati and wife Neeta cried, while his three-year-old son Arjun was unaware of the tragedy that had struck the family. The body was brought by an Army chopper.Wrapped in the Tricolour, the body was later taken to his native Surheti village, about 12 km from here, where his younger brother Ankit Deswal lit the pyre. A contingent of the Army reversed arms and fired a volley of shots in the air to bid farewell to the departed soul.Apart from representatives of various social and non-political organisations, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar, MLAs Geeta Bhukkal, Raghuvir Kadian and Naresh Kaushik, DGP KP Singh and other administrative officers paid tributes to the martyr by laying wreaths on his body.Retired Subedar Rishiraj Deswal, inconsolable father of Amit, said his son had laid down his life for the sake of the nation and he was proud of his son.Maj Amit of 21 Para SF was killed in a gun battle with ZUF militants in the densely-forested Nungba area during a combing operation undertaken by the Rashtriya Rifles and Special Forces personnel.“Amit, who was born on January 15, 1985, was so passionate about serving the nation that he had started preparations for competitive examinations after 12th class and qualified CDS examination at the age of 19 years in 2005,” said Amit’s uncle Shamsher Singh.He maintained Amit got commissioned in 2006 and his first posting was with an Artillery unit. He had secured ‘Commando Daggar’ during ‘Ghatak’ course after joining the elite Para unit in January 2011. Amit had last visited his home in Jhajjar in February to attend his brother’s marriage.