BAREILLY: Saraj Singh had made two calls to his family on Sunday. The first was to his mother, Paramjeet, who has been unwell with a heart condition. He wanted to check on her. The other was to his wife, Ranjeet, to tell her he’d be home in December. Hours after that last conversation, Saraj, 26, died in a gunfight with militants at Surankote in Poonch. He was among five Army men who lost their lives.
Saraj’s body was brought to the Army base in Shahjahanpur on a special plane on Wednesday evening. He will be cremated on Thursday morning. UP CM Yogi Adityanath announced a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for his family. Shahjahanpur DM Indra Vikram Singh and SSP S Anand met his family at their Banda home on Wednesday and said a road would be named after him. “For his incredible display of courage,” Singh said. “The government has also announced a government job for his kin.”
Born to a Sikh farmer family, Saraj was the youngest of three brothers. His eldest brother Sukhweer was the first in the family to join the Army. Saraj was barely a teenager then. Soon, his other brother, Gurpreet, did as well. Saraj was inspired. “He would run for hours to prepare for the physical test. He would keep watching (2013 Bollywood film) ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ over and over. He said it motivated him,” his friend Kuljeet Singh said. In 2016, he made it. Deployed with the 16 Rashtriya Rifles, his first posting was at Firozpur Cantonment in Punjab. The one at Surankote was his second.
“He was his mother’s pampered boy. He was very close to her and would call her every day,” his father Vichattar Singh, 56, said. “On Monday, when he didn’t call, she was anxious. And we didn’t know how to tell her.” Paramjeet was finally told on Tuesday evening. She had last met her son in June.
Her son Sukhweer was worried. “I fear for my mother. She is not well. All of us are in immense pain that we will never see him again,” he told TOI. “He sacrificed himself for our country.” Farmer unions staged candle marches through Shahjahanpur on Wednesday.
His wife was inconsolable. They had been married in October last year. “My daughter-in-law was at her parents’ place in Hardoi. She came home after she got the news. She is in shock,” Vichittar said. Ranjeet, incomprehensible through tears, said, “We spoke on Sunday night. He said we would talk again on Monday. The call never came."
