Thousands bid tearful adieu to Major Rane in Thane

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, August 9

Residents of the Mira Road suburb in Thane district on the outskirts of Mumbai carpeted the streets with flowers as the mortal remains of Major Kaustubh Rane were brought home for a final goodbye.

Major Rane and three of his colleagues lost their lives while reportedly trying to foil infiltration by militants from Pakistan in Kashmir’s Gurez area last Tuesday.

The mortal remains of Rane draped in the Tricolour were received in Mumbai by his relatives, military personnel and Maharashtra’s Education Minister Vinod Tawde late Wednesday night.

Early today, the body was brought to Rane’s residence at Mira Road on a military truck. Local residents who gathered on the road in large numbers threw flowers from their windows and balconies as the truck wended its way to the Sheetal Nagar colony of Mira Road. Cries of “Major Kaustubh Rane Amar Rahe” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” were heard as residents gathered on both sides of the road waving the national flag.

At various places along the road, local politicians had put out posters hailing the supreme sacrifice made by the soldier.

Major Rane, 29, is survived by his parents Prakash and Jyoti, sister Kashyapi, wife Kanika and a two-and-a-half-year old son Agastya.

Rane was decorated with the Sena Gallantry Medal by President Ram Nath Kovind last Republic Day.