Pulwama terror attack: Two from Maharashtra’s Buldana district among deceased

The Buldana District Information Office informed that Rathod had joined Battalion 3 of the CRPF in Assam in 2006. Belonging to a farmer family, Rathod was always interested in joining the army. The family owns a meager 1.5 acre agricultural land.

Rathod is survived by his parents Savitribai, 53 and Shivaji Rathod, 58, wife Vandana, 30, son Jivan, 10, and daughter Jeevika and a younger brother, Pravin, 32. He had joined duty on February 11 after spending 50 days vacation with his family.

Rajput had joined CRPF in 1996 in Tripura. He had spoken with his nephew Piyush Bais around 1.30 pm a little before the attack happened. That turned out to be his last call. He is survived by Wife Sushma, sons Jay,12 and Shubham, 8, and mother Jijabai, 78. He had also spent his leave period with his mother at Malkapur and his family at Nagpur before joining the duty in Kashmir on February 11.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday afternoon in the Valley when a suicide bomber rammed his Scorpio SUV laden with explosives into a CRPF bus in south Kashmir. Moments after the attack, Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack. the bomber was identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, 20, a resident of Gundibagh village in Pulwama district of South Kashmir. Adil used to work in a sawmill.

The bus, carrying 40 soldiers, was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles with 2,547 CRPF personnel, moving from Jammu to Srinagar. Sources said that preliminary inspection of the attack spot revealed that the SUV had more than 50-60 kg of high-grade explosives.