Major VS Dhoundiyal wife salutes as people pay last respects in Dehradun

People pay last respects to Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, the Army officer who was martyred in Pulwama encounter with Jaish e Mohammed (JeM) terrorists on Monday, along with three jawans- Havaldar Sheo Ram and Sepoys Hari Singh and Ajay Kumar.

In Dehradun, thousands of people paid their last respects to Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, at his residence in Dehradun. Major mother Saroj is a cardiac patient and his wife Nikita Kaul, whom he had married last year in April 2018, and a host of relatives and friends were crying inconsolably as Major's coffin was kept for people to pay their last respects before being taken to Haridwar for the last rites.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat placed a wreath on the coffin amid cries of "Shaheed Dhoundiyal Amar Rahein" and "Vande Mataram".

The gun battle comes less than a week after 40 CRPF troopers were blown up in an instant just four days back after their convoy was targeted by a JeM suicide bomber on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama.

#WATCH Wife of Major VS Dhoundiyal (who lost his life in an encounter in Pulwama yesterday) by his mortal remains. #Dehradun #Uttarakhand pic.twitter.com/5HWD6RXwnO

— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2019