Chennai: Havildar K Pazhani, one of the 20 Indian army soldiers killed in a violent clash with the Chinese troops in Ladakh, was laid to rest at his native village here with full military honours today.
A gun salute was accorded to the slain soldier before his mortal remains were buried at Kadakkalur village in Ramanathapuram district, as scores of people including family members bid a tearful adieu to Palani who had made the supreme sacrifice on Monday.
Collector K Veera Raghava Rao on Wednesday visited the bereaved family of Pazhani and handed over a cheque for Rs 20 lakh. Veera Raghava Rao handed over the cheque a day after Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced the solatium. A family member would be granted a government job.
It was only a few days prior to his killing along the India-China border that Pazhani was dearly missed at home.
For, he could not attend his housewarming ceremony on 3 June, as he had to guard the motherland. The soldier had visited him home at Kadukkaliyur in the southern district of Ramanathapuram in January this year.
He had made plans to return for the family’s housewarming ceremony, but in a call in the first week of June, changed his plans.
“We are being moved (to the border), so you won’t be able to reach me… don’t worry,” Pazhani, 40, had told his wife Vanathidevi, 33, over phone on 1 June.