New Delhi:
With tears in their eyes while still processing the unfathomable sorrow, the families of victims of the Pahalgam terror attack received their bodies on Thursday. Twenty-six people, mostly tourists, died in the Baisaran meadow bloodbath in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag – the deadliest in the Valley since the 2019 Pulwama incident – on Tuesday.
Among the victims were tourists from different parts of the country and a Nepali national. Their bodies were first brought in coffins to Srinagar, where Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid wreaths, and were then flown to their hometowns.
Airlines operated more than 50 flights from Srinagar to ferry tourists and bodies of the victims to their destinations, along with 123 accompanying family members.
Tearful Goodbyes
Navy officer Vinay Narwal’s remains were brought from Kashmir to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon, from where they were taken to his native place in Haryana’s Karnal. His last rites were then held with full military honours.
#WATCH | Haryana | Last rites of Indian Navy Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, who was killed in the Pahalgam terror attack, being performed at his native place in Karnal. pic.twitter.com/mRxMmPkXgn
— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2025
The 26-year-old officer got married only a week ago and was on his honeymoon when terrorists shot him at point-blank range in front of his wife, Himanshi.
Thousands of people, including Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, attended his funeral in Karnal.
The body of Indian Air Force Corporal Tage Hailyang, a resident of Arunachal Pradesh, was brought to Guwahati Airport, where Assam Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah and Guwahati City Police Commissioner Partha Sarathi Mahanta paid floral tributes to the soldier.
The remains of Neeraj Udhwani, who worked as a chartered accountant in Dubai, were also brought to his hometown, Rajasthan’s Jaipur. He was in the city for a wedding function and had gone to Pahalgam with his wife, Ayushi.
The remains of Shubham Dwivedi, a 31-year-old businessman from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, reached Lucknow on Wednesday night. He got married just two months ago and was killed in front of his wife.
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak pays tribute to Shubham Dwivedi from Kanpur and Sudeep from Nepal, killed in the Pahalgam terror attack, as their bodies are brought to Lucknow airport.#PahalgamTerroristAttack pic.twitter.com/O8DayaKcO2
— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2025
He had gone to Kashmir on a week-long vacation on April 16 with his wife, parents, sister, brother-in-law, and her sister’s in-laws. His body has now been sent to Kanpur in an ambulance and will be cremated later in the day.
Mr Dwivedi’s remains were brought alongside the Nepalese national, Sudip Neupane, who was also killed in the Pahalgam terror attack.
The body of Sushil Nathaniel, a manager at the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, was brought to the city from Kashmir on Wednesday night. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav was among those who paid tributes to him at the airport.
#WATCH | Indore | Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav pays last respects to Sushil Nathaniel, who was killed in the #PahalgamTerroristAttack yesterday. pic.twitter.com/FgkrqqMp51
— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2025
Mr Yadav said that his wife told him that terrorists had asked Mr Nathaniel, a Christian, to recite the ‘Kalma’ — a declaration of faith that forms the core beliefs of Muslims — before shooting him dead.
Thousands of people in Dombivli in Maharashtra’s Thane attended the last rites of the three cousins – Sanjay Lele (50), Hemant Joshi (45) and Atul Mone (43) – on Wednesday evening. Their family members and friends said they were at a loss for words to describe their pain and anguish over their deaths.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also attended the funeral.
With a very heavy heart, took Antim Darshan and met the grieving families.
Heart wrenching moments.
ॐ शांति 🙏#PahalgamTerrorAttack #Maharashtra https://t.co/0Uw7evz5VN pic.twitter.com/BUMgJmjlJY— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) April 23, 2025
“Our tears have dried up,” Mr Mone’s sister-in-law said as his remains arrived in the city from Mumbai.
The bodies of two Pune-based tourists were also brought to the city by a flight early Thursday morning.
The remains of Santosh Jagdale and Kaustubh Ganbote reached the Pune international airport around 5.30 am, where Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol was present to receive them.
Mr Ganbote, his wife, Sangita and Jagdale, his wife, Pragati, and their daughter, Asavari, were holidaying in Kashmir.
The bodies of Manjunath Rao and Bharath Bhushan were brought to Karnataka’s Bengaluru early Thursday. Union Minister V Somanna, along with Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, accompanied their remains.
#WATCH | Karnataka | Bharat Bhushan from Bengaluru and Manjunath Rao from Shivamogga were killed in the #PahalgamTerroristAttack, their mortal remains have been brought to Bengaluru.
Union Minister Veeranna Somanna and BJP MP Tejasvi Surya pay floral tribute. The BJP MP was in… pic.twitter.com/SiphcDVOnD
— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2025
Mr Rao’s body has been taken to his hometown, Shivamogga, while Mr Bhushan will be cremated in Bengaluru.
The body of Prashant Satpathy from Odisha’s Balasore district was brought to Bhubaneswar late Wednesday night. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi later attended his funeral in the Balasore district.
The remains of Andhra Pradesh native S Madhusudhan were flown to Tamil Nadu’s Chennai in the early hours of Thursday.
Chiefs of Tamil Nadu BJP and Congress units, Nainar Nagendran and K Selvaperunthagai, respectively, and AIADMK’s KP Kandan paid tributes to him.
The body was later transported to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh by an ambulance. Mr Madhusudan, who was an IT employee from Nellore district, was settled in Bengaluru.
