Hundreds of people on Thursday gathered at the slain soldier Kundalik Mane’s village here to pay their respects, as state honours were accorded to the jawan. He was cremated amid cries of ‘Kundalik Mane amar rahe’ (long live Kundalik Mane).
He was one of the five soldiers killed in Tuesday’s ambush at the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
R.R. Patil (Home) and other Maharashtra ministers, and civil and military officials attended the funeral. Mane’s three-year-old-son and father watched as his younger brother Vijay lit the funeral pyre after a gun salute.
Earlier, the body was brought to Pune by air from Delhi late Wednesday night, before being transported to Kolhapur by road. Before the funeral, the body was taken to the family’s house where villagers, men, women and children were present in large numbers. Mane’s wife Rajashree, who was told of his death late Wednesday evening, was still in a state of shock.
