‘Spoke to him at 6:45 am..’: Anantnag gunfight martyr Col. Manpreet Singh’s brother on heartbreaking phone call

Colonel Manpreet Singh, who was one of the three people martyred during a gunfight with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag, had spoken to his brother hours before his death. The Colonel had told his brother that they would speak again in the evening, but that never happened. Colonel Singh’s brother Virender Gill had said that his wife was unaware of his death. 

Speaking to India Today, Virender Gill said that the Army officer spoke to him at 6:45 am and had to cut the call short because of his busy schedule. "I spoke to him this morning at 6:45 am and he said he is busy and would call me later in the evening when the Army operation is over. We received information about him getting injured in the afternoon," Virender Gill said.

Colonel Singh is survived by his wife Jagmeet Kaur, who is a school teacher, a six-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter. They stay in Chandigarh with his family. Jagmeet Kaur was initially only told that her husband was injured. 

The Army Rashtriya Rifles unit Commanding Officer ‘s mortal remains would be brought to Chandigarh and the cremation would take place today. 

According to reports, Colonel Singh had spent almost five years in the same unit, out of which he spent the first three years as the second-in-command. He was also bestowed the Sena Medal for Gallantry in 2021 for neutralising terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir who had fired indiscriminately. 

On Wednesday, Major Ashish Dhonack, and Deputy Superintendent Humayun Bhat, apart from Colonel Singh, were killed in the gunfight with terrorists in Kokorenag area. The officers were critically injured after the gunfight. A jawan had also died along with them. The whereabouts of another soldier are not known and is feared to have been seriously wounded. 

The banned Resistance Front, believed to be a shadow group of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack. They are believed to be the same group who carried out the attack on army personnel on August 4 that killed three jawans.

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