Man who collected soil from houses of Pulwama slain soldiers invited for tribute ceremony

Umesh Gopinath Jadhav, a resident of Maharashtra, was the special guest at the wreath-laying ceremony in Pulwama on February 14. The wreath-laying ceremony was held at CRPF’s Lethpora camp. He took a 61000-km-long journey across India to meet families of the 40 jawans who lost their lives in attack, last year. He collected soil from their homes and cremation grounds. While speaking to mediapesons, Umesh Gopinath Jadhav said, “I'm proud that I met all the families of Pulwama martyrs, and sought their blessings. Parents lost their son, wives lost their husbands, children lost their fathers, friends lost their friends. I collected soil from their houses and their cremation grounds.” Soil collected by Umesh from houses and cremation grounds of CRPF jawans, was offered at the memorial at Lethpora camp. On February 14, 2019, around 40 CRPF jawans were killed when their convoy was targeted by the suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pulwama district.