Mysuru: His parents wept and his 20-year-old wife of 10 months, Kalavathi, was inconsolable as she saluted her husband saying “Bharat mata ki jai!” A sea of people too mourned as the body of CRPF jawan, H. Guru, killed in Pulwama terror attack, was brought to his home in Gudigere colony, KM Doddi, Maddur taluk at around 7 pm Saturday and later cremated with full state honours in the presence of CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and several state leaders.
Guru’s wife salutes before the last rites of the soldier were performed at Gudigere village near Mandya. (Photo: KPN)
The body was received at HAL airport around 1pm by Mr Kumaraswamy, home minister M B Patil, minister, H K Patil, Union minister, D V Sadanandgowda, MP, Shobha Karandlaje and others.
The slain soldier’s grief-stricken father. (Photo: KPN)
As the convoy carrying it made its way to his hometown in Mandya, scores of people lined up on either side of the Bengaluru -Mysuru road, to pay their last respect to the jawan, crying “Vande matharam” and “Amar rahe Guru!”
The scene was equally charged and poignant at Gudigere colony where his parents, Honnaiah and Chikkolamma and his wife, Kalavathi, received Guru’s body later in the evening. They could not have imagined such a homecoming for him, when he had promised on his last visit to them on February 11 that he would return to the village in April for his first wedding anniversary.
As his body was later carried in procession from their home for the cremation, Honnaiah raised his hands to thank the people who had gathered to pay tribute to his son. At around 8.30 pm, the jawan was cremated on land given by the government as the family did not own any with his younger brothers, Anand and Madhu performing the last rites.
Besides the huge number of people who had turned out to pay their last respects to Guru, a large number of political leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister, Dr G Parameswaswar, KPCC president, Dinesh Gundurao, former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, Mandya district in-charge minister C.S. Puttaraju, Maddur MLA D.C. Thammanna, tourism minister Sa Ra Mahesh, Union minister D.V. Sadanandagowda, and MPs Shobha Karandlaje and Pratap Simha attended the funeral.
Others present included film producer Sa Ra Govind, and actors Prakash Rai and Doddanna. While Southern Range IGP , Sharath Chandra provided the security, Mandya Deputy Commissioner Manjushree made arrangments for the cremation.
