Anugul (Odisha): The mortal remains of Junior Warrant Officer (JWO) Rana Pratap Das were consigned to flames at his native village in Odisha's Angul district with full state honours on Saturday. Das was killed in the helicopter crash on December 8, along with India's first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 11 others. Thousands of people lined up on both sides of the road as the Indian Air Force officer's body was brought to Krushnachandrapur village near Talcher from Bhubaneswar airport in the morning.
His funeral rites were conducted in the presence of his old parents, IAF personnel, lawmakers, and hundreds of people who gathered to bid him farewell. Das's tricolour-wrapped body was given the gun salute as people raised the 'amar rahe' (long live) slogan.
His parents have not spoken since receiving the news of their only son's death, as the entire village mourned the loss."We are all proud of him. He has sacrificed his life serving the motherland. However, hard times await his parents as he was their only son," the officer's aunt said.
Odisha's Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick, who also attended the funeral, said, "He was the pride of Angul, Talcher and the entire state. We are extremely saddened by his demise."
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other dignitaries paid floral tributes to the soldier after his mortal remains reached Bhubaneswar airport. Thirty-four-year-old Das had joined the IAF in June 2006 and was posted at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. He got married to Dr Sibangi in 2017, and the couple has a 19-month-old son.
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