Army officer, soldier from Maharashtra martyred in Nagrota

A pall of gloom descended in Solapur and Nanded districts of Maharashtra on Wednesday after an army officer and a soldier were killed battling terrorists in Tuesday's terror attack in Nagrota, Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian Army's Major Kunal M. Gosavi, 33, of Pandharpur city in Solapur and Lance-Naik Sambhaji Y. Kadam, 35, of Jana village in Nanded were felled by terrorists bullets during an attack on an army camp at Nagrota, near Jammu city.

Gosavi is survived by aged parents, his wife and a four-year-old daughter, said his grieving father.

He had come home on a month's vacation and left for re-joining duty at the Nagrota camp last Saturday.

He was seen off in Pune by his mother Vrunda Gosavi, who had stayed back with her elder son.

Major Gosavi, who was sleeping at his house in Nagrota camp when the terrorists attacked on Tuesday, rushed out accompanied by four other soldiers.

His wife and daughter, who were at home at the time of the attack, learnt of his death several hours later.

Born in the the famous temple town of Pandharpur in March 1983, Gosavi was educated in his home town and later graduated from the Brihan Maharashtra Commerce College (BMCC) in Pune.

He joined the NCC as a cadet while in junior college and later appeared for the Indian Army entrance exams in 2006.

Gosavi was commissioned and after three years' service was married in 2009. The couple have a daughter named Umang.

Kadam was born into a very poor family of Janapuri village in Nanded district, and joined the Indian Army as a soldier in 2001.

He is survived by his parents -- father who is a security guard and a domestic labourer mother -- wife Sakhubai and three-year-old daughter Tejasvini, all living in Pune.

Posted in the 5th Maratha Light Infantry, Kadam had sought a posting in Jammu and Kashmir to join the fight against cross-border terror. He was due to retire around 2018.

--IANS

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