Mumbai: Mumbai’s neighbouring Dombivali was engulfed in grief. Three cousins from the town who had gone for a holiday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam returned in coffins. In mourning and anger, the town responded with a bandh Thursday.
About 150 km away, pyres were lit as tears flowed in the households of Santosh Jagdale and Kaustubh Ganbote. The two people from Pune were killed in the 22 April terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahlagam .
And in Panvel, Dilip Desle’s wife Usha Desle was inconsolable. She saw her husband being shot dead in front of her eyes. She is consumed by her trauma. Doctors have advised her complete rest.
Maharashtra lost six people to the barbaric attack that unfolded about 1,900 km away in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. The state government has announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to each of the six grieving families and Rs 50,000 each for the injured.
While the last rites of Desle and three cousins from Dombivali — Hemant Joshi, Sanjay Lele, Atul Mone—were carried out on Wednesday, Santosh Jagdale and Kaustubh Ganbote were cremated on Thursday.
Many people had gathered in Dombivali to pay their last respects to the victims on Wednesday. The ground was filled with people who thronged the pay homage.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condemned the attack and said the Central and state governments are taking strict measures to curb such cowardly acts and also assured all possible support to the families of the victims and the injured.
Survivors recount horror
The three cousins from Dombivali would normally travel and go on holidays together and this time they had decided to visit Kashmir, a relative of one of the cousins told ThePrint.
Atul Mone was accompanied by his wife and daughter, who had passed her 12th grade. Sanjay Lele was with his wife and a 20-year-old son and Hemant Joshi was with his wife and a son, who has passed Class 10.
“Thay planned this holiday long ago. Since the tickets were difficult to book, they travelled from Mumbai to Ahmedabad and from there to Srinagar,” said Rajesh Kadam, a relative of Sanjay Lele.
“What I know was that they had finished touring the Baisaran valley and were about to leave when this attack happened. They asked everyone to lie down after checking their identities and then started shooting,” Kadam said. “Lele was hit in the head, Mone was hit in the chest and back while Joshi was hit in the chest.”
They were helped by some ponywallahs who came running and rushed the people downstairs. Lele’s son was injured too and he was transferred to a medical centre in Pahalgam city, Kadam said.
“It is a very difficult time for the deceased men’s children and their wives. They had to witness the men in their families get killed brutally,” Kadam said.
The entire Dombivali was shut on Thursday.
“I personally knew Joshi and his wife. He used to greet me everyday on his morning walk with his wife. As residents of Dombivali, it was our collective decision to close all our shops. The government and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi should nab the perpetrators and get justice for the family. I am sure they will do this,” said Sursu, a shopkeeper.
In Pune, Asavari Jagdale is mourning her father’s death.
“They did not ask for anything. They just shot him brutally in the head. There was no one there, no security at all. There were five terrorists and they were wearing masks. ‘Sher aaya Sher aaya’ is what they said as they fled. They must be killed,” Asavari Jagdale told the media, adding there was a delay in the injured getting medical assistance.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar met the Jagdale family on Thursday, Jagdale’s wife and Asavari told him even young children were not spared.
Panevl’s Usha (56) had gone on a holiday with her husband Dilip Desle. According to her relatives, she is in deep trauma and has been asked to take rest.
Hemant Joshi’s neighbour Jondhale told ThePrint remembered him as a very good natured man.
“He had a good relation with everyone in society and would speak nicely to everyone in the society. We were shocked when we came to know about the attack in Pahalgam. The society is trying to support the family by being there for them. They are in shock and not in a state to talk.”
On Thursday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar met the Disle family and told the media, “It is unfortunate that they had gone there a day before and on the second day itself when they were enjoying the beautiful Valley. Her husband was killed brutally in front of her. It is a big trauma for her.”
She also questioned the lack of security deployment there. She also informed that she was being told that the terrorist came camouflaged. “And this raises the questions on security.”
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)