Guwahati News Desk: A tearful farewell was accorded to Suman Swargiary, an Assam Rifles personnel killed in a militant ambush in Manipur, at his residence in Assam’s Baksa district on Monday, with his inconsolable wife saluting the mortal remains for the final time amidst heart-wrenching cries. The two-and-a-half-year-old son of the couple lay flowers at his father’s coffin, oblivious of the grief and loss engulfing the family. The body of Swargiary reached Guwahati airport in the morning from Jorhat airport, where a military flight carrying the mortal remains of four Assam Rifles personnel and family members of one of them killed in the ambush on Saturday had remained overnight.
The flight had to land at Jorhat airport on Sunday due to some technical issues while en-route from Manipur’s capital Imphal to Guwahati, an Army spokesperson had said. The bodies of the other martyrs and the family members were flown onward to their respective destinations from Guwahati airport, while Swargiary’s was taken by road to his residence in Baksa, the spokesperson said.
At Guwahati airport, Assam cabinet minister Keshab Mahanta paid last respects to the slain personnel on behalf of the state government and also accompanied the cortege to the martyr’s home, a state government official said. Mahanta and his cabinet colleague U G Brahma attended the last rites performed with military honours, with district civil and police administration top officials also being present, he added.
As the mortal remains of the 33-year-old rifleman reached his home, cries of his family members rent the air. Two nurses helped Swargiary’s wife to bid her final farewell as she feebly stood and saluted her slain husband, while a family member held the couple’s son in her arms and guided him to lay flowers at his father’s feet and bow his head.
Swargiary was among the five Assam Rifles personnel, including the Commanding Officer of Khuga Battalion of the country’s oldest paramilitary force, who were killed in a militant ambush in Manipur’s Churachanpur district on Saturday. The wife and six-year-old son of the CO were also killed in the attack.
