Mumbai: Thousands turn up to bid last goodbye to Major Kaustubh Rane killed on LoC

Thousands of mourners poured out at Mira Road on Thursday as Major Kaustubh Rane, who was killed in Jammu and Kashmir while foiling an infiltration bid last week, was cremated with full military honours, including a 21-gun salute by the Army.

The Major and three other soldiers were killed along the Line of Control in north Kashmir's Gurez sector in Bandipora district on August 4.

His mortal remains, which arrived in the city from Delhi on Wednesday night, were kept at a defence establishment in Kandivali. The following morning, they were taken to his residence at Mira Road's Sheetal Nagar, which was thronged by tearful well-wishers who wanted to catch a last glimpse of him before he embarked on his final journey.

A massive cortege, which started from his home at 9.30 am, bore the casket draped in the Tricolour atop a flower-bedecked hearse. 

Petals were showered on the patriot from time to time.

(Major Rane’s wife, Kanika, and mother, Jyoti, at the Mira Rd crematorium)—Aadesh Choudhari/DNA

Two hours later, when the procession reached the crematorium, the scene turned chaotic with hordes of people scrambling to see the last rites. Some people even climbed trees, scaled compound walls or dangled from terraces of buildings surrounding the crematorium. The police had a tough time controlling the emotional mob. They closed the gates to the crematorium, whose grounds were full beyond capacity.

To impose order on the situation, Major Rane's aunt and uncle addressed the crowds through a loudspeaker and appealed for the funeral rites to be conducted decorously and pecefully.

As the family members placed wreaths on him, mourners chanted 'Vande Mataram', 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Major Kaustubh Rane Amar Rahe'. Army officers including Lieutenant General Cherish Matheson, the general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of South Western Command, and local politicians marked their presence as the force gave him a 21-gun salute. His wife, Kanika, who was carrying their two-and-a-half-year-old son Agasthya in her arms, was inconsolable as the Major's father lit the pyre around 12.30 pm.

One of the martyr's colleagues remarked, "He was a good officer and a thorough professional." A distant relative of his said: "So many people, who did not even know Kaustubh, turned up to pay their last respects. He has made us all proud."