Body of army major killed in Kashmir arrives in Chennai

, Apr 27: The body of Major Mukund Varadarajan, who was killed along with a jawan in an encounter with militants in Shopian district of south Kashmir on Friday, arrived here by a flight on Sunday night. The coffin draped with the national flag and floral wreaths from senior

officials arrived at the domestic terminal by an Air India flight from Delhi at around 11.45 pm, police said.

Family members received the body, which has been kept at the military hospital at St Thomas Mount. The cremation is expected to take place at Besant Nagar area here on Monday with full military honours.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today had ordered Rs 10 lakh solatium to members of the bereaved family and also written to the Major's wife, extending condolences and calling the young officer "a brave son" and "courageous soldier."

Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa announced Rs 10 lakh solatium to the major's family

The Major, a native of nearby Tambaram, joined 22 Rajput after training at Officers' Training Academy here. He had been deployed with the 44 Rashtriya Rifles for counter-insurgency operations in Shopian. The encounter, in which the Major and the jawan were killed, ended yesterday. Bodies of three militants were also recovered. Security forces had launched search operations in Karewa Malino in Shopian, 55 km from Srinagar on April 25 on information about presence of three Hizb-ul Mujahideen militants.

The militants were asked to surrender but resorted to firing, triggering the gunfight. Shopian is part of Anantnag parliamentary constituency and the encounter took place a day after militants attacked a polling party escorted by police and CRPF in the district at the end of the voting on Thursday. One polling officer was killed while five others, including three security personnel, were injured in the incident.

PTI