On Tuesday, wrapped in Tricolour, Major Sharma’s mortal remains reached his hometown Meerut at around 3 pm. 'Major Sharma fought valiantly like a true soldier. My heart goes out to his bereaved family,' Rajnath Singh said

Major Ketan Sharma, who valiantly fought and later succumbed to his injuries during intense gun battle in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag, wrote a cryptic message on family WhatsApp group that turned out to be his last words. According to an Indian Express report, Major Sharma was very active on WhatsApp and on fateful day he wrote a message. The Indian Express report said that posting his photo, Major Sharma had written: “maybe this is my last photo.” The Indian Army officer suffered grievous injuries in the joint encounter in Anantnag’s Achabal area.

On Tuesday, wrapped in Tricolour, Major Sharma’s mortal remains reached his hometown Meerut at around 3 pm. Entire city came to a grinding halt to pay tributes to its brave son. As soon as the family prepared the braveheart’s final journey, his mother broke down and asked, “Mujhe batado mera sher beta kahan gaya?”

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also paid his rich tributes to the officer. “Paid tributes to Major Ketan Sharma who made the supreme sacrifice while fighting against the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Major Sharma fought valiantly like a true soldier. My heart goes out to his bereaved family,” Singh wrote on Twitter.

According to latest media reports, the forces have suffered high casualties in last 10 days in anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir. 10 security personnel have lost their lives during various encounters and gun battles.

Meanwhile, despite the losses, security forces successfully gunned down the main conspirator of February 14 Pulwama attack along with his handler. According to officials, Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Sajjad Ahmad Bhat’s car was used in the suicide bombing in the Lethpora area of Pulwama which killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers forcing the two neighbours on the brink of a war.

According to officials, Bhat had joined the terrorist groups just a few days before the terror attack on CRPF convoy. Besides several terror crimes, the official said, Sajjad Bhat was also wanted in connection with the suicide car blast in Pulwama.

"Sajjad Ahmad Bhat alias Afzal Guru had joined Jaish days before the Lethpora terror attack. He belonged to Marhama village," police sources was quoted as saying by IANS.