My son said Mama, sound, fire: Slain Bengal techie's wife recounts Pahalgam horror
Bitan Adhikari was a 40-year-old engineer employed with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the US, and was among the 26 tourists killed in the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. His final rites were performed on Wednesday (April 23). His wife, Sohini, broke down while recounting the horror during which her world turned upside down on Tuesday afternoon.advertisement"My son said mama...sound...fire," Sohini said, narrating how scared her son Hridaan got at the noise of the gunfire. Bitan was shot dead on the spot in front of his wife and child, who survived."We didn't understand. We heard some noise. My husband said it might be firecrackers. He took my hand and ran. I turned around, and I saw one person being shot. Many fell down. We put our heads down," Sohini described the events bit-by-bit as they unfolded in front of her eyes.
Sohini demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice at the earliest.Originally from West Bengal, Bitan had returned to India last month on a summer holiday with his wife, Sohini (37), and their three-year-old son, Hridaan.The family was holidaying in the scenic Baisaran meadows, often called 'Mini Switzerland', when armed militants approached and asked for their religious identities.advertisementFurthermore, Sohini stated that the terrorists asked the religion of the tourists before shooting them. "Any Hindus here? They said and then they shot people. I thought my husband would survive," she said.Sohini went on to say that there was a lapse in security arrangements at the spot."There was no police or security at the spot. They asked one person, uncle, are you Hindu or Muslim? Then they shot the man. They asked another person if he could recite the Kalma, and shot him when he could not," Sohini claimed. "They even shot the dead bodies to make sure that no one survived," she added.The attack, one of the deadliest in the region in recent years, was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
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