'Ranjan left for Kashmir with smile': IB officer's father breaks down as son's body returns home

"I don't want to speak... please leave me alone," those were the only words Intelligence Bureau officer Manish Ranjan's father Manglesh Kumar Mishra could muster, his voice cracking under the weight of unspeakable loss. A retired school headmaster from Jhalda in West Bengal's Purulia district, he stood trembling as the coffin of his 33-year-old son returned to his Jhalda home in West Bengal's Purulia district on Thursday afternoon.

Ranjan, a section officer with the IB posted in Hyderabad, was among the 26 people killed in the Pahalgam terror attack on Tuesday.

"Ranjan left for Kashmir with a smile. He would call us every day on the phone and WhatsApp to ask about our health. We even received his call on the fateful day," his father said.

One of his friends recounted that after returning from this vacation, Ranjan had planned to take his parents to the Vaishno Devi shrine.

Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, who was at Ranchi airport on Thursday morning to receive Ranjan's mortal remains, said he was a meritorious student.

"His father recently retired as the headmaster of the Hindi High School in Jhalda. Ranjan had planned to take his parents to Vaishno Devi after this vacation," he said.

"We had never thought such a gruesome incident would take place. People say terrorists have no religion, but innocent people were brutally killed because of their religion," said another friend, Aditya Sharma, who also came to the Ranchi airport to take his mortal remains to his native place.

Shops in Jhalda town downed their shutters in memory of Ranjan and 25 other victims.

In Ranchi, Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi was among the leaders and administrative officers who paid homage to Ranjan at the airport.

Marandi said the way innocent people were killed based on their religion is not pardonable.

"The perpetrators of the crime will be brought to justice by the government. The attack's masterminds will also not be spared," he said.

Union Minister and BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar paid floral tribute to Ranjan and consoled his grieving parents at Jhaldha.

"The perpetrators of such a dastardly attack will be dealt with in the language they understand. We will avenge the deaths of our citizens," Majumdar said.

Sohini, wife of 40-year-old Bitan Adhikari - another victim from the state - recounted to senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari how terrorists asked her husband to chant the Kalma, an Islamic phrase of faith.

When he admitted not knowing it and identified himself as a member of another community, they shot him dead.

"My world has come crashing down. Who will look after my three-year-old son? He asks where Papa is and says 'fire, fire,'" she said as Suvendu Adhikari and BJP leader Agnimitra Paul comforted her and promised full support.

Bitan lived in Florida, worked for an IT company, and had residences in Baisnabghata and Behala.

The brother-in-law of Samir Guha, the third terror attack victim from the state and a central government employee, recounted how Guha's wife and daughter called from the mobile phone of a local taxi driver, Ekbal, who rescued them after the attack.

Guha had been lying in a pool of blood in the Baisaran Valley when the attackers fled.

"Ekbal lent his phone to my sister, who broke the news to me. He stood by her, assuring her constantly. He stayed with them at the local hospital until the body was released after post-mortem examination, and protected my niece, warning her not to venture out. He even arranged a vehicle for them to reach the airport and refused to accept any fare," said Subrata Ghosh, Guha's brother-in-law. Guha was a resident of Behala.

The bodies of Bitan Adhikari and Samir Guha reached the city on Wednesday night.