Mandi (HP), Nov 11 (PTI) The dream of Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar, who died in an encounter with terrorists at Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, to rebuild his house damaged in monsoon fury remained unfulfilled.

A resident of Barnog village of Chhamyar panchayat in Nachan Assembly constituency of district Mandi, Kumar of 2 Para (Special Forces) was killed while three other commandos were injured in the gunfight that broke out on Sunday in Kishtwar's Bhart Ridge area.

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The body of the martyr was brought to Mandi in a helicopter on Monday evening but the last rites could not be performed as it got late. The body has been kept in the mortuary of Lal Bahadur Shastri Medical College Nerchowk and the cremation will take place on Tuesday, officials said.

"Our ten-room house was damaged during the monsoon last year and his family was living in a rented house," said Kumar's brother Karam Singh.

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"My brother Rakesh who had come on leave one-and-a-half months back had promised to start construction of the new house in January next year," he added.

Rakesh is survived by his wife Bhanupriya (33), daughter Yashshwani (13), son Parnav (7) and mother Bhati Devi (90). The family is in a state of shock and inconsolable ever since the news arrived.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri have expressed deep sorrow over the martyrdom of Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar.

In a statement issued here, the chief minister said "the nation will forever honour the ultimate sacrifice of this brave soldier" while the deputy chief minister said "the nation and the state will always be indebted for the selfless and supreme sacrifice of this brave son".

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)