The body of an Assistant Commandant of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, will be brought to his native place Nashik in Maharashtra for the last rites, an official said on Sunday.
Nitin Bhalerao, 33, an officer of the CRPF’s jungle warfare unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), was killed, while nine commandos were injured in the IED blast in Chhattisgarh on Saturday night, officials said.
Bhalerao was a resident of Devpur village in Niphad taluka of Nashik, sources in the district administration said. “After the post-mortem, Bhalerao’s mortal remains will be brought to Mumbai from Raipur and later to Nashik. His last rites will be performed with full State honours at the time decided by his relatives,” District Collector Suraj Mandhare said.
Maharashtra’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who is also the Guardian Minister of Nashik, in a message said the nation has lost a brave son.
“I and my family are with Bhalerao’s family in this hour of grief and I offer him tribute on behalf of the State government,” he said.
Bhalerao joined the CRPF in 2010 and had joined the CoBRA unit in 2019. The CoBRA was raised by the CRPF in 2009 as a special guerrilla combat wing for undertaking anti-Naxal operations as well as combating insurgents in the Northeast.
