Colonel Santosh Mahadik, the 38-year-old Indian Army Officer who died in an encounter with terrorists in Kashmir on Tuesday, will be cremated in his village in Pogarwadi in the Satara district of Maharashtra today.


Mahadik's entire village has come to pay their last respects, as have politicians from across parties; defence minister Manohar Parrikar will also be there.


There will be a 21 gun salute, followed by the last rites by the family and the colonel's mortal remains will then be laid to rest.


His body was brought to Pune yesterday, where the Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis paid his respects. Reports say that all the women in Mahadik's village have removed their bindis to mourn the death of their son as thousands of men and women weep openly before TV cameras.


The army officer is survived by his wife and two children, aged 11 and seven. The army officer, in fact, has two mothers in a manner of speaking. His mother gave him to his aunt who did not have children and he was brought up by both women.


The army on Wednesday paid floral tributes to Colonel Mahadik, Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, who was killed while battling militants near Line of Control in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

Tributes to the valour and sacrifice of the late officer were paid in a solemn ceremony held at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Jammu. Mahadik, 39, a resident of Maharashtra, who was the commanding officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, was critically injured during an operation in the Haji Naka forest area of Kupwara near the LoC in Kashmir on Tuesday.