Martyred CRPF jawan Pal cremated

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan Harish Chandra Pal, who was killed in the Naxal attack on Thursday in an ambush in Bastar’s Kanker region of Chhattisgarh, was on Saturday cremated with full State honours in Bhopal amid the shouting of patriotic slogans by people. Politicians from both Congress as well as BJP were present at the Habibganj Railway Station as Harish’s body was brought by Amarkantak Express in a tricolour-wrapped coffin from Chhattisgarh and Minister P C Sharma received deceased martyr’s body on Saturday morning. The cremation took place in the Subhash Nagar crematorium and Minister P C Sharma, DGP V K Singh, IGP Bhopal, Jaideep Prasad, IG (CRPF) Pramod Pandey, DIG Irshad Wali and Collector Dr Sudam Khade and a large number of people were in attendance.

The pyre of Harish (45) was lit by his 12-year-old daughter Shalesha Pal. Deceased’s younger brother Chandra Pal recalled Harish as an ever-smiling person who had cared for all his family members throughout his service country’s security forces before being laid down his life in the line of duty. Ex-CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, MP Alok Sanjar and MLA of Govindpura constituency Krishna Gaur were among others who visited martyred residence in Awadhpuri where they paid floral tribute to the jawan. Chouhan, who met Pal’s family, told them that punishment would be meted out for the Naxalite attack. Notably, in a major attack ahead of Lok Sabha polls, four CRPF personnel, including an assistant sub-inspector and three constables, were killed in Kanker district in tribal Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.