Mumbai: A day after Dahanu Road residents and Amarnath pilgrims Usha Sonkar and (56) Nirmala Thakur (67) died when their bus was shot at by unidentified terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, one of deceased women’s families said that stones were pelted at their bus a day before the attack.
Pradip Thakur, son of Thakur, said stones had been pelted at his mother’s bus on Sunday. “Stones were pelted on our bus when we were coming from Amarnath. We are fine and going to Vaishnav Devi,” were Nirmala Thakur’s last words to her family before the attack, said Mr Thakur.
According to the police, terrorists had attacked police parties in Batengoo and Khanabal areas of Anantnag district, and the pilgrims’ bus had got caught in the crossfire. “In every month of Shravan my mother and her women friends used to visit religious places like Ashtavinayak, Shirdi, etc. It was the first time she went on the Amarnath yatra,” said Mr Pradip.
Nirmala is survived by her husband, son, daughter and a grand daughter. “Nirmala was a member of local grampanchayat and she has done social work for the Adivasis in Asha Gadh area of Dahanu,” said Ashok Thakur, Nirmala’s brother-in-law.
Relatives and residents of the two deceased women, who resided near the Dahanu Road railway station, are in shock over the incident. “Usha spoke with her husband Mohanlal Sonkar yesterday at 7 pm and said she is fine and her group was heading towards Vaishnav Devi,” said Premchand Sonkar, brother-in-law of the deceased.
“But at 8.45 pm we came to know about the firing incident. I immediately contacted the driver of the bus, who confirmed the incident,” said Mr Sonkar. Usha is survived by her husband, a son and four daughters. Outside Usha’s residence, a huge number of people gathered in solidarity. Some voiced slogans like “Hindustan zindabad, Pakistan murdabad”.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Gosavi (56), an ambulance driver, was shocked when he learned about the attack on the pilgrims’ bus. Mr Gosavi’s wife Pushpa Gosavi (52) was also in the bus but survived with injuries. However Mr Gosavi, who said he is awaiting his wife’s return eagerly from Kashmir, put aside his emotions to drive the bodies of Nirmala and Usha to their respective houses after they were brought to Dahanu by helicopter.
