Colonel Manpreet Singh martyred in Anantnag encounter: Father of two kids; ‘We spoke at 6.45am’

Mohali’s Colonel Manpreet Singh was one of the jawans killed in a gunfight with the terrorists in J&K’s Anantnag area that started on Tuesday evening.

Colonel Singh was leading the battalion that resumed the operation on Wednesday. he was severely injured in the gunfight and succumbed to his injuries later. Major Ashish Dhonack and Deputy Superintendent Humayun Bhat lost their lives.

Colonel Manpreet Singh belonged to 12th Sikh LI, received Sena medal. Dhonack belonged to 15th Sikh LI. Manpreet Singh’s brother-in-law Virender Gill said they spoke to Manpreet at 6.45am. “He said he would speak later,” Gill said. Manpreet is survived by his wife, mother and two kids — a six-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter.

When his brother-in-law spoke to him last, he said he was busy as the operation was already on. The family got to know in the afternoon that he was injured in the operation. His wife was told the same by the family even after they received the news of his death.

Manpreet was a second-generation Grewal Army officer and already completed 17 years of service. In 2021, Col Manpreet Singh was decorated with the Sena Medal for gallantry after he neutralised terrorists in J&K. In his service, Col Singh spent almost five years with the same Rashtriya Rifles battalion, the first three as the second-in-command and then as the Commanding Officer. His wife Jagmeet Grewal is a lecturer in the Haryana education department. He was recently honoured with a gallantry award by the Army. He was about to complete his tenure with Rashtriya Rifles in four months.

The attack comes a day after an Army personnel and Kent, a six-year-old female Labrador of the Army’s dog unit, were killed and three security personnel injured in the gunfight in South of Pir Panjal at Rajouri in Jammu region. Two terrorists were killed in an encounter in the remote Narla village.