Leh: A wreath-laying ceremony was held on Wednesday at Leh to pay homage to Lance Naik Chandra Shekhar, the soldier whose mortal remains were found 38 years after his disappearance in the Siachen glacier
“Mortal remains of LNk (Late) Chander Shekhar who made the supreme sacrifice while being deployed for Operation #Meghdoot in 1984 arrived in #Leh. Wreath laying was carried out with full military honours. Mortal remains to be handed over to family,” Army spokesperson said.
Mortal Remains of LNk(Late) Chander Shekhar who made the supreme sacrifice while being deployed for Operation #Meghdoot in 1984 arrived in #Leh. Wreath laying was carried out with full military honours. Mortal remains to be handed over to family@adgpi @lg_ladakh @ANI pic.twitter.com/6epIqhZPEn
— @firefurycorps_IA (@firefurycorps) August 17, 2022
The mortal remains of Chandra Shekhar were discovered in an abandoned bunker in the glacier on August 13, according to reports.
“A patrol of Indian Army recovered the mortal remains of LNk (Late) Chander Shekhar who was missing since 29 May 1984 while deployed at Glacier due to an Avalanche,” tweeted Northern Command of Indian Army on Monday.
Chander Shekhar was identified with the help of the identification disk bearing his Army number which was entangled along with the mortal remains, the Army tweeted, adding that further details were recovered from official Army records.
On August 14, Chandra Shekhar’s wife Shanti Devi was informed about the recovery by the officials from the army’s 19 Kumaon Regiment, reports said.
The family is expected to get the remains. After which, the final rites of Chandra Shekhar will be performed at Haldwani in Uttarakhand in the presence of his wife and two daughters. Besides the family, numerous other veterans from his unit and relatives are also set to bid the brave heart goodbye.
Operation Meghdhoot seized Pakistan’s Operation Ababeel to occupy almost all the dominating heights from 16,000 to 22,000-feet in the Siachen region in May 1984. Chandra Shekhar , who joined the Kumaon Regiment in 1971, was part of a team that was given the task of capturing Point 5965, an important feature that the Pakistanis were eyeing.
During the operation, his team was hit by an avalanche in which 18 soldiers died on May 29, 1984. The bodies of 14 soldiers were found, while others remained missing.
