A pall of gloom has descended on the non-descript Eguva Regada village of Kurabalakota mandal, the native of Lance Naik B. Sai Teja (29), the personal security officer of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, who was among the 14 killed in an IAF copter crash in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
According to information, Sai Teja, a 2012 batch jawan who rose to the rank of Lance Naik recently, was attached to the Chief of Defence Staff as his PSO.
Police officials said that Sai Teja hailed from an economically poor agrarian family, and his parents are farmhands. His wife and two children are currently residents of Madanapalle town. Sai Teja’s younger brother Mahesh also works as sepoy in Indian Army in Sikkim.
Some defence personnel from Chennai are said to be on the way to the village to oversee the arrangements for the interment.
Deputy SP (Madanapalle) A. Ravi Manohar Achari said that a police team was in contact with the family members of Sai Teja. “The parents are in a shock since evening, after hearing the tragic news. The information was also passed on to Teja’s brother in Sikkim. Our men have reached the residence of Sai Teja to stand by the family members at this emotional hour. We will make further arrangements based on orders from our higher officials. So far, there is no information about the scheduled arrival of the body to Madanapalle,” he said.
