'My son will finish his dad's job'

KENDRAPADA: Even as residents of Shikar village in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha kept talking on Friday about the life and death of Prasanna Sahoo, who was killed in the terrorist attack at Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir on Thursday, his inconsolable wife resolved to make sure their only son joined the CRPF to finish the incomplete work of her husband. The family had received the news of Prasanna's death from the CRPF headquarters at 11pm on Thursday.

Prasanna, 48, who was a head constable of CRPF's 61 Battalion, is survived by his wife Mina, 44, son Jagan, 16, and daughter Roni, 18. He had joined the CRPF in 1995.

Tears rolled down Mina's face as she sat in a corner of their house, surrounded by women trying to console her, but her hand was firm as she raised it to point to her son and say, "Jagan will join the CRPF to complete the unfinished work of my husband."


Jagan said, "The government should conduct surgical strikes and kill at least 420 terrorists." Jagan is a Plus II student of arts while Roni is a Plus III first-year student of science. "I am proud of my father though it will be very difficult to come to terms with this tragic loss. But it should not go waste," Roni said. The Army must avenge these killings," Roni added.

Hundreds of people from Shikar and surrounding villages started gathering at Prasanna's house from late on Thursday night. "He was such a pleasant man. I never saw him get angry. He had spent a month in the village in November last year, before leaving for Kashmir on December 4," said Sarat Sahoo, a resident of Shikar.

"Last year, Prasanna had started building a house in the village. He had planned to complete it this year, but he died before he could do so," said a sobbing Dhruba, the deceased soldier's elder brother.