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Pulwama terror attack: 'Hemraj was fond of cricket, football'

KOTA: It was through the media that the family members of Hemraj Meena (43), a native of Vinod Kanla village of Vinod Khurd panchayat of Sangod teshil in Kota district , learnt about his death in Thursday’s Pulwama terror attack .


The entire Hadauti region sank into deep grief as a crowd of supporters thronged his home.

“Hemraj gaon me yaaron ka yaar tha (Hemraj was friendly with everyone in the village). He was a very jolly, pleasant-looking person,” recalled Narottam Soni, 40, one of Hemraj’s childhood friends, who runs an automobile shop in Sangod town.

“Every person in the area is talking only about Hemraj today, so much was he loved here,” Soni said, adding he and Hemraj studied together till class XII. Hemraj was very cautious and careful about his fitness, Soni said while recalling one of the incidents when he had accidentally gotten his leg fractured in a field and Hemraj, bearing his weight on his shoulders, ran for about three km to take him to the hospital.

Hemraj was very fond of cricket and football and was a good player in these sports, however he was an average student, said one of his classmates Harinarayan Meena, also a native of his village. “Hemraj and I together appeared for the CRPF exam and tests in 2001, but Hemraj was selected for the job and I wasn’t,” Harinarayan said, adding he accompanied Hemraj at the time of recruitment in CRPF.

Hemraj, the only government servant among four brothers and one sister, was full of patriotism and love for his motherland since his early days, said his elder brother, who runs a tea stall in the village, adding that Hemraj joined CRPF in 2001. However, he was also selected for Rajasthan Police Services two times, but due to various reasons, he could not join the police service. Hemraj, following completion of his training in Maharashtra, came to his village on this Sunday and after staying for a day, he left to report on duty on Tuesday morning, with a promise that he “would soon return for a five-day vacation,” recalled his eldest brother Ramvilas, and said in a sinking voice, “Now, he is to arrive at his home wrapped in tricolour”.

Hemraj’s wife Madhu received a call from CRPF camp at Jammu on Thursday around 10pm, that informed her of his martyrdom in the Pulwama attack in the afternoon, said the martyr’s brother Ramvilas Meena. The family is grief-stricken but full of pride.

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