The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Col. Jojan Thomas laid to rest with state honours

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Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Col. Jojan Thomas laid to rest with state honours

Staff Reporter

Chief Minister, Ministers and senior Army officers pay their last respects

— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Poignant moment: Beena (right) wife of Col. Jojan Thomas having a last glimpse of her husband in Bangalore on Monday.

BANGALORE: Colonel Jojan Thomas, who died in an encounter with militants in Jammu and Kashmir, was laid to rest with state honours at the Christian Cemetery here on Monday.

Dignitaries, including Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Ministers from Karnataka and Kerala governments and senior Army officers were present to pay their last respects. It was the first time that the State police participated along with the Army personnel in the guard of honour.

Around 8 a.m., the mortal remains of Col. Thomas were brought in a flower decorated convoy from Command Hospital to his flat at Manekshaw Vihar. The scene was wrenching when the colonel’s wife Beena, daughter Meghana and son Philemon Thomas broke down, weeping uncontrollably.

From the house, the body was taken to St. John’s Church at Domlur for the last rites. Mr. Yeddyurappa and Minister Shobha Karandlaje took part in the mass organised in the church.

The body was then taken to the Christian Cemetery off Hosur Road. Many of Col. Thomas’s friends and colleagues were overcome with emotion while saying their final goodbye. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command Lieutenant General Noble Thamburaj and Governor Rameshwar Thakur. In the ceremony that followed, the Army personnel removed the national flag draped on the coffin and handed it to Ms. Beena along with the last uniform worn by the colonel. Ms. Beena and other family members went in a procession with the Army personnel to the grave site. Army personnel and the State police fired three times in air as a mark of respect.

Among those who participated in the ceremony included Commandant of Army Service Corps Centre and College Lieutenant General G.S. Dillion, Commandant of Selection Centre (South) Major General P.K. Chakravorty and Commander of Karnataka and Kerala Sub-Area Brigadier P.S. Ravindranath.

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