Rohtak cousins among 39 from Haryana get commissioned

ROHTAK: Two cousins — Aakash Rana, 26, and Abhijeet, 25 — from Rohtak’s Pakasma village are among 39 Haryana cadets who passed out from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun on Saturday.

Aakash’s father Narender Rana, an employee of Haryana tourism department, said his son had pursued post-graduation in civil engineering from Rohtak, while his nephew did his Btech from Faridabad.

Aakash had joined the IMA through technical graduate course (TGC), while Abhijeet took the combined defence services (CDS) exam.

“We have a joint family and the boys studied together till Class 12. They again got back together at the IMA, but will now have to part their ways. Aakash will be sent to the engineering unit in Amritsar and Abhijeet will move to Uttar Pradesh’s Babina in the armoured regiment,” he added.

Expressing his disappointment over not being able to witness the Passing Out Parade, Aakash’s father said, “The academy won’t even send them back home this time. My family will have to wait to see them as officers.”

A retired armyman and grandfather of the lieutenants, Randhir Rana said he had instilled in them the dream of donning the olive green one day.

“My grandsons proved that nothing is impossible if you are determined and have a fixed goal,” he added.

‘IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL OUTBURST’

On Saturday, however, Dhawala apologised for his remarks against Rana. “It was an emotional outburst,” he said in a letter to the state BJP leadership. “I have always worked for strengthening