Balasore: The family vacation trip of 43 year old Prasanta Kumar Satpathy of Ishani village of Balasore district to Kashmir valley turned out to be his last as he was brutally killed by terrorists, which is still an unbelievable act for many.
Prasanta, an accounts assistant at the Skill Development Centre of the Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in Balasore, had travelled to Kashmir with his wife Priyadarshini and their 9-year-old son Tanuj on April 19.
He was scheduled to return to Bhubaneswar on Wednesday (April 23). He had booked a flight for the same. His mortal remains arrived here on the scheduled day.
According to his family members, Prasanta along with his wife and son were enjoying the nature paradise in Kashmir. They also shoot short videos on the snow filled mountains and beautiful grasslands.
On Tuesday afternoon, they were at Pahalgam. After they had completed a zipline ride in Pahalgam, Prasanta was posing for a photo at that moment a bullet struck him in the head. Suddenly the entire happy scenario of the meadow turned to be scary. Everyone is crumbling and moving here and there.
Priyadarshini and Tanuj also managed to escape the scene unharmed. When they were coming down to seek help, Prasanta was alive. In a blood stained dress, Priyadarshini was begging for help near the entrance of the meadow. Later, the Army jawans recovered the body of Prasanta and sent it for post-mortem.
“The firing was sudden and unexpected. When I saw my husband he was still breathing and could recognise me till he passed out. We couldn’t understand what happened as my husband was suddenly hit by a bullet. There was chaos all over,” Priyadarshini said.
“An hour later, the local police informed me that he was dead and they are taking his body for post-mortem. My world has come crashing down,” she said.
Prasanta was the youngest of three brothers living in a joint family in his native village of Ishani, in Balasore district.
The attack took place in the afternoon at Baisaran valley – it is an off-road meadow a little over 6 km from Pahalgam – which was packed with tourists. Three-four gunmen showed up and fired indiscriminately at the tourists.
Meanwhile, the last rites of Prasanta were conducted at his native Ishani village. His minor son performed last rites as per tradition.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi along with Transport Minister Bibhuti Jena, State BJP president Manmohan Samal, local MP Pratap Sarangi, MLA Manas Dutta and the deceased’s family and friends participated in the funeral of Satpathy. The last rites performed with full dignity.