The 26-year-old bank manager, Vijay Kumar Beniwal who was killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Thursday, was married three months ago in February 2022.
Vijay Kumar works in the Ellaquai Dehati Bank in Kulgam. He comes from Bhagwan village in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district. He was murdered during a wave of assaults against non-locals in Jammu and Kashmir, the second civilian attack in less than a week. Terrorists shot and killed a school teacher in Kulgam earlier on Monday.
Beniwal’s body was cremated in his native village Bhagwan on Friday. The body reached the village from Kashmir on Friday morning.
Beniwal’s last rites took place in the village’s cremation ground and was attended by hundreds of people.
Around 7 a.m., Beniwal’s wife reached Bhagwan village with her husband’s body. Seeing the dead body of the son, the father fell unconscious. The last rites were performed shortly afterwards. Vijay had promised to come to the village in July. After marriage, he had not returned to the village. He wanted to change his cadre and also took a test for it.
“I spoke to him last night,” Vijay Kumar’s father Om Prakash Beniwal, a teacher in a government school in Hanumangarh’s Nohar tehsil was quoted by Hindustan Times (HT).
“Someone contacted me at 11 am today as I was eating breakfast, saying that there was news on TV that Vijay Kumar had been shot. I instantly turned on the television and witnessed the same thing,” he added.
“He married on February 10 and departed 10 days later for a job. He recently moved in with his wife. His wife had requested that we accompany them, but owing to the tourist rush, I promised her that we would come later,” he informed.
“Abhi toh shaadi ka album bhi tayar nahi hua tha,” he said. (Even the wedding picture album was not complete yet.)
Vijay Kumar and his wife were studying for the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET) test and planned to return by July 15, according to Beniwal.
“They are targeting outsiders in Jammu and Kashmir. Many people from this area work in banks. Something needs to be done fast, or else more accidents will occur,” he stated.
Officials said that after being shot, Beniwal was taken to the hospital, but could not be saved.
CCTV footage of the attack showed a terrorist entering the bank and firing at Vijay Beniwal.
Expressing his condolences and condemning Beniwal’s murder, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted, “The assassination of Vijay Kumar, a citizen of Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, working in Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir, by terrorists is very condemnable.”
“I want God to provide him serenity and strength for his family.”
“The NDA administration in Kashmir has failed to restore peace. Citizens in Kashmir should be safe, according to the national government. Terrorists killing our countrymen will not be accepted,” added Gehlot.
(With inputs from IANS and News Desk)
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