Friends of Army officer Colonel Santosh Mahadik, who was killed in action at Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, sent Diwali sweets to his unit

Colonel Mahadik was an alumnus of the Sainik School at Satara in Maharashtra.

Mumbai:

Classmates of Colonel Santosh Mahadik, an army officer from Maharashtra who was killed in action near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, sent 300 kg of sweets to soldiers of his unit.

Colonel Santosh Mahadik, Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, was critically injured during an operation in the Haji Naka forest area of ​​Kupwara in November 2015 and later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

A classmate of Colonel Mahadik, who was involved in the initiative, told PTI that 300 kg boxes of mithai landed at Srinagar airport from Chandigarh in an Air Force transport plane and were delivered to the personnel of 41 Rashtriya Rifles for distribution to the martyred soldiers. once ordered.

Colonel Mahadik was an alumnus of the Sainik School at Satara in Maharashtra.

“Like every Diwali, we also thought of his comrades in arms who are suffering from harsh climate and enemy from abroad. We thought this would be a good gesture for the soldiers who are spending Diwali away from their families,” he said. .

An officer of the elite 21 Para Special Forces, Colonel Mahadik was awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry during Operation Rhinoceros in the northeast in 2003.

A top football goalkeeper, an accomplished horseman and a tough boxer, Colonel Mahadik was an all-rounder, his friends recalled.

Despite the inhospitable terrain that made the Kupwara operation extremely difficult, the colonel decided to lead his unit.

Colonel Mahadik’s classmates, who include several serving and retired armed forces officers, have launched an initiative they call ‘Operation Diwali’.

The sweets arrived in Kupwara on Friday and will be taken to border posts where they will be distributed to the soldiers, said a classmate of Colonel Mahadika.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)