Pune:  What should have been a day of celebration turned out to be one of profound grief for the family of Naik Sandip Jadhav.

Jadhav, one of the two soldiers killed in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, was cremated on Saturday on his son’s first birthday.

But there were no smiles on Shivam’s landmark day, only eyes misting over with tears as his father’s mortal remains were consigned to flames with full military honours at Kelgaon in central Maharashtra’s Sillod taluka, about 230 km from here, The 34-year-old jawan, who belonged to the 15 Maratha Light Infantry, was killed in an attack by a team of Pakistani Special Forces, which had sneaked 600 metres across the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector two days ago.

Shravan Mane, a 24-year-old sepoy from Kolhapur, was also killed in the attack.

A pall of gloom descended over Sillod as news of Jadhav’s death broke.
Jadhav had promised his family that he would be home for Shivam’s first birthday celebrations, but he returned in a coffin, sending his family and friends into shock.

Besides one-year-old Shivam, Jadhav is survived by his wife, a three-year-old daughter, parents and a brother.