Jawan from T.N. dies just 35 days before retirement

Due to retire in 2015, Padmanabhan was granted an extension for two years

April 25, 2017 09:24 pm | Updated April 26, 2017 08:29 am IST - Tiruvarur

M. Padmanabha

M. Padmanabha

“I will be back home for good in two months,” CRPF Head Constable M. Padmanabhan (44) had told his family a few days ago. But on Tuesday — just 35 days before his retirement from service — only his body arrived at Avichakudi village, his native, not far from Valangaiman in Tiruvarur district.

Padmanabhan and another CRPF constable Senthil Kumar, both from the delta region, were killed along with others when Maoists attacked CRPF unit in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh on Monday.

Padmanabhan joined the CRPF in 1994. Death in service had perhaps stalked Padmanabhan who must have retired in 2015 itself, but was granted an extension of service for two years and that too was about to end in May. The slain para military personnel is survived by his wife Maheswari, son Muralidharan (5) and daughter Monica (2).

His comrade-in-arms Sambandam said that he and Padmanabhan joined the CRPF at the same time, and since he was a grade lower, he had got retired while Padmanabhan went on. Just 20 days back, he happily informed that he was returning home to peace and love by May end.

Sole bread winner

Never did Vidya and her ward Shaktipriyan (8 years) imagine that their summer vacation at Nidamangalam in Tiruvarur district would turn out to be a nightmare of the worst kind — this was until the news of the untimely death of Vidya’s husband and CRPF constable N. Senthil Kumar (35) trickled in through official circles early on Tuesday.

Senthil Kumar was his family’s only bread winner after the death of his father Narayanan, who had eked out a living working as a laskar in the PWD.

He and Vidya were intent on providing the best possible education to Shaktipriyan, studying third standard in a Coimbatore school. In fact, the mother and kid had relocated to Coimbatore solely to provide quality education to the child while Senthil Kumar's mother Amirthavalli (68) was living alone in their house at Kamaraj Colony, Nidamangalam in Tiruvarur district.

Grieving relatives said that Senthil Kumar joined the CRPF in 2000. The inconsolable Vidya is a graduate while Shaktipriyan was hardly in a position to grasp the goings on.

Earlier, the bodies were flown to Tiruchi by a Indian Air Force transport aircraft from Raipur and sent to their respective native villages by road.

Food Minister R. Kamaraj, Tiruchi Collector K.S. Palanisamy, Tiruvarur Collector L. Nirmal Raj and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Tiruchi, Mayilvaganan paid homage to the three CRPF men.

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