The 24-year-old Sandeep Thok's village resounded with cries of 'Shahid Sandeep Thok Amar Rahe', 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', 'Pakistan Murdabad' as thousands of grieving locals and people from surrounding hamlets queued up to pay their last respects.
Barely two months later, around Diwali, the Thok family was preparing to conduct the wedding of Sandeep, the youngest of four siblings, but that dream would remain unfulfilled.
Besides his aged parents, Thok is survived by his elder brother Yogesh and two older married sisters.
Sandeep Thok had made at least 10 unsuccessful attempts to join the army, and it was on his 11th attempt that he succeeded in July 2014.
According to local media reports, he is the fifth soldier from the picturesque Sinnar sub-district to have perished in action, while another 10 youths from the same village with a population of around 1,600 are serving currently in the armed forces.
The Maharashtra Government has announced an aid of Rs 15 lakh to the families of the four soldiers martyred in the latest terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir.
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