New Delhi: Rifleman V Teja of the 15 Assam Rifles, a soldier from Odisha’s Rayagada district, died of a gunshot wound sustained while on operational duty in Nagaland on Monday. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead, but the circumstances in which he was shot have not been made public, according to media reports.
Teja, who belonged to Charlie Company of the battalion, had joined the armed forces in 2022 and was serving as a rifleman. He would have turned 31 on October 7 and was to be married in December, his family said.
His relatives said he had signed an organ donation declaration two years ago. In keeping with that wish, a local hospital in Nagaland retrieved and preserved his organs, though which organs were removed and who received them has not been disclosed.
His mortal remains were flown out of Nagaland by helicopter via Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam and then carried to Rayagada by a special ambulance. Naib Subedar Ravindra Kumar Naik of the 15 Assam Rifles, who escorted the body, told ANI that the full details of the death would be known only after the post-mortem, which could take about a week.
Naik added that he served in Alpha Company, while Teja was with Charlie Company, so he had no firsthand knowledge of how the soldier died. The family had earlier received a message that Teja died in the line of duty after being hit by a bullet.
Hundreds of people took part in a motorcycle rally and procession at Rayagada to pay their respects, with fireworks, loud music and chants hailing the soldier. The chief minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi, said he was deeply grieved by the loss and that Teja’s dedication to the nation would be remembered.
Teja’s death comes against the backdrop of a testing year for the force in the northeast. On July 13, a suspected improvised explosive device blast targeted an Assam Rifles vehicle in Nagaland’s Chumoukedima district, killing Havildar Md Iqbal and injuring four security personnel and a civilian. Barely a week earlier, two soldiers of the 40th Battalion had been killed when suspected militants ambushed a convoy in Manipur’s Ukhrul district.
Officials have not said whether Teja’s death was accidental, and none of the reports available links it to militant activity. The postmortem and the inquiry that usually follows such incidents are expected to establish the sequence of events.
The Assam Rifles, the country’s oldest paramilitary force, traces its origins to the Cachar Levy of 1835 and is headquartered in Shillong. It is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs, while its operational control rests with the Indian Army under the Ministry of Defence. Its battalions handle counterinsurgency duties and guard the India-Myanmar border.