On Tuesday morning, the Indian Army came out with a statement saying that three Indian Amry personnel have been killed by the Chinese forces in the Galwan Valley on Monday evening.
However, by Tuesday night, the numbers were increased to 20 casualties. The identities of 17 personnel have been unknown yet while the three personnel who were killed have been identified as Colonel Santosh Babu, Commanding Officer 16 Bihar Regiment Havildar Pazhani, and Sepoy Ojha.
Colonel Santosh Babu
Colonel Santosh Babu had joined the armed forces to fulfill his father’s personal dream of serving the nation. His father was expecting his soon to come to Hyderabad soon. Babu was killed in the violent face-off between the Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh region on Monday night.
The Colonel’s father, B Upender who is a retired banker said that while he couldn’t live his dream of serving the armed forces, his son was fulfilling it for him. He said,
“I could not join the Army and serve my country. So I wanted my son to join the defense forces and serve our country. My relatives discouraged the idea.”
Babu was the Commanding officer of the 16 Bihar Regiment and is survived by his wife, daughter, and son who live in the national capital. The colonel had spoken to his mother on Sunday about the escalating tensions. The mother said that she is proud of the sacrifice of her son.
Havildar K. Pazhani
The soldier hailing from Tamil Nadu had already served the armed forces for over 22 years and was reportedly due for retirement in a year. He was one of the three men who were killed by the Chinese forces.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has announced a solatium of Rs. 20 lakh to the family of the soldier who lives in Kadukkalur village in Ramanathapuram. He also promised that one of the family members would be given a government job. The father-in-law of the soldier said,
“We were informed that he died in the India-China clash that occurred during the early hours. An army official from Rajasthan called and informed us. He had even come to this very house in our town in January this year. The family is fully dependent on his income.”
The soldier is survived by wife Vanathidevi, son Prasanna aged 10 and daughter Divya aged 8. Post the death of the soldier, the village has been engulfed in the gloom. The brother of Pazhani is also in the army and is posted in Rajasthan.
Sepoy KK Ojha
Not much has been known about the Sepoy KK Ojha but he hails from Dihari village of the Sahebganj district in Jharkhand. However, as per the social media, the soldier had just become a father 17 days ago.
Source: The Wire
