Shortly before death, CRPF man spoke to mom
ARA : Barely half-an-hour before CRPF personnel Mojahid Khan died in an encounter with militants in Srinagar on Monday, he had spoken to his mother and sister-in-law in Bihar’s Bhojpur district.
Constable Khan rang up his mother at 9.52am and promised to attend a family wedding in March, barely 30 minutes before he was killed in the shootout near his camp at Karan Nagar in Srinagar. A pall of gloom descended in Piro, Khan’s native village 92km southwest of Patna, soon after the family received the news about his death.
Youngest of five brothers, Khan was a bachelor. His three elder brothers — Imtiyaj Khan, Aftab Khan and Akhlak Khan — are in Dubai, while the eldest lives in Piro with their parents. His two sisters are married.
Brother Mohammad Khan said he received the sad news at 10.30am. “Our parents and the women in the family haven’t been told about his death … we simply said Mojahid has been wounded in a militant attack.”
The slain soldier’s friend, Sajid Alam, said he had spoken to Mojahid on Sunday.
Khan had last visited his village in November. His family had planned to find a bride for him and fix the wedding the next time he was home on leave. But the brave brother will now return in a coffin.
Security measures across the Valley were scaled up after a suicide attack in January that left five CRPF troopers dead. Monday’s attack follows intelligence alerts about heightened militant strikes.