Nagpur: Savita Samprit, 55, recalls the day when her relatives hesitantly broke the news about the death of her husband, naik Krishna Samrit, in the mountains during the Kargil War 27 years ago. From Pulgaon in Wardha district, she was pregnant at that time, carrying her younger son Prajwal.Prajwal is now serving as a Captain in 17th Maratha Light Infantry (MLI), the very regiment his late father belonged to. “It makes me proud and also anxious,” she says, talking about Prajwal. “Now, as he is posted in a sensitive area. Sometimes I worry about him. He always wanted to join Army since matriculation, and I did not discourage him either,” she says.
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Prajwal appeared for the Combined Defence Services Examination (CDS). After selection, he chose Army over admission in a management school. “After completing training in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) at Dehradun, he preferred to join his father’s unit — the 17 MLI — and was granted the choice,” says Savita.Prajwal could meet some of his father’s colleagues who are now JCOs. “For them, Prajwal is Krishnaji’s son as well as captain in the battalion. Those who have retired are also in touch with him. They all share a special bond with him,” says Savita.Concerned about Prajwal’s safety, she is reluctant to share details about her son. “I prefer not to call him, we rather wait for him to ring up,” she says.Like earlier years, Savita has an invite from the Governor’s Office to attend the Kargil Vijay Diwas event in Mumbai on Sunday. “I will not be able to attend the function once again. It’s because I prefer to hold a small function right at my home each year, inviting my friends and relatives,” she says.Life was tough for Savita after her husband’s death. “I worked at the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Services (ECHS) Hospital at Wardha, bringing up my two children,” she says. The elder son is an engineer.Naik Krishna was posted in Poonch. On July 27, 1999, he was wounded by enemy bullets and died at a hospital in Srinagar around four days later. The Kargil war had ended by that time, so technically it could have become a peacetime casualty. However, soon certificates were issued covering it under Operation Vijay — the name for the Kargil campaign of the Indian Army,” said a source at the Zilla Sainik Welfare Office at Wardha. “The certificates are there in our office,” said the source.
