Farewell to a hero

Major J Suresh Suri, who laid down his life in a gunbattle with terrorists in Bandipora in Jammu and Kashmir, was cremated with full military honours at the Bansilalpet crematorium in his home city Hyderabad on Friday morning.

Twenty-nine-year-old Major Suri's body was flown to Hyderabad from Srinagar on Thursday night and was brought to his home in Vaningar area of the city where a large number of relatives and friends had gathered to console the shocked and bereaved family.

Major Suri was killed along with another soldier when he they were trying to enter a house on an island in the district where two terrorists had hidden, said an army officer. "Major Suri was a brave officer who led his men from the front. He was a counter-insurgency instructor, and was killed in hand-to-hand combat with the militants."

Text: Mohammed Siddique in Hyderabad and agency inputs

The tragic news of Suri's death in the gun battle came as a shock to neighbours because Suri and his wife Pallavi were in Hyderabad till early this month.

The cremation was attended by the army officers and jawans from the 13th Rashtriya Rifles, to which Suri had been deputed.

Amid slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Major Suresh Suri Amar Rahe', a huge procession moved along with the flower-decked army vehicle that carried his mortal remains.

The body was placed in a coffin draped in the tricolour with Suri's photo placed above it.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and senior army officials placed wreaths on Suri's body and paid tributes at his house in Vani Nagar in Malkajgiri on Friday morning.

Suri's father Subba Rao was a corporal in Indian Air Force while mother Girija is a teacher at a Kendrya Vidyalaya.

Major Suri was the eldest of three children. His younger brother Sunil is an IT professional in Pune, while his younger sister Surekha is a homemaker in Hyderabad.

Suri had joined the army in 2001 and got married in August 2008. A resident of Hyderabad, he was part of the Kumaon Regiment and had been posted to Bandipora in Jammu and Kashmir a year ago. He had been posted in the valley earlier in 2004.

According to relatives, Suri was to turn 30 on October 5, and had planned to celebrate it with his wife at the Manasbal Lake, where his 13 Rashtriya Rifles unit has been posted.

What made the moment more poignant was that Suri and his wife had celebrated their first wedding anniversary on August 20 and visited Tirupati. On September 2, Suri flew back to Srinagar to join his duty. Pallavi had come down to Bandipora to visit him a few days earlier.

Many relatives and neighbours recalled Major Suri as a determined and daring young man.