Bhubaneswar, Apr 23 (PTI) Forty-one-year-old Prashant Satpathy of Odisha’s Balasore district, who was gunned down by terrorists in front of his wife and nine-year-old son in Baisaran meadow, had saved money for months for their Kashmir trip and was excited about it, his family said on Wednesday.

Upon hearing the news of her son’s death, Satpathy’s mother has turned mute due to shock, his elder brother Sushant said.

“Prashant had saved money for months for the trip and was really excited about it,” he said.

An accounts assistant with the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in Odisha’s Balasore district, Prashant had gone to Kashmir with his wife and son on LTC.

A video sent by Prashant to his elder brother from Baisaran meadow hours before his death showed him playing with snowballs and hurling ice packs at his son Tanuj and wife Priya Darshani Achariya.

In the video, Prashant clad in a white shirt and blue jeans, was seen throwing snowballs at his son and wife and enjoying the environment of Baisaran valley. He was also seen hugging Tanuj, wearing a red jacket. “This was probably the last hug to his son by Prashant,” an emotionally charged elder brother said.

Prashant was the second of the three sons of their parents. He had gone to enjoy nature after the completion of his son’s school examinations.

“Prashant was shot in the head while we were alighting from a ropeway in Baisaran… he collapsed on the spot. The army came an hour later,” his wife Priya Darshani Achariya told an Odia news channel from Jammu and Kashmir.

She, along with her son Tanuj Kumar Satpathy and three of Prashant’s relatives who rushed to Srinagar after hearing about the attack, would accompany the body which is expected to arrive in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday night.

A dark cloud of despair hovered over Ishani village in Remuna block in Balasore district as locals and politicians made a beeline to the residence of Satpathy to express condolences to his family.

Prasahnta’s father-in-law Radhamohan Acharya said: “My son-in-law was a noble-hearted person. He had never harmed anyone. But, he was killed in a terrorist attack. This is something not acceptable.” Amar K Das, a close friend of Prashant, said Prashant used to take part in all activities in the village and was working along with other villagers to set up a Lord Shiv Temple. He died in the terrorist attack before the completion of the temple construction.

As per the direction of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Odisha’s Resident Commissioner in Delhi is coordinating the arrangements for the return of the body, an official said.

Locals were waiting for Satpathy’s body to arrive in the village to pay their last respects.

His family said they were making arrangements for conducting the final rites on Thursday and Odisha government representatives were expected to attend it.

Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi, who was in Jammu and Kashmir to attend a meeting, reached out to Prashant’s family and consoled his wife and son.

Though terrorists mostly killed men, an Odia woman staying in Karnataka, identified as 65-year-old Sashi Kumari, was also injured in the attack. She was undergoing treatment at Government Medical College in Anantnag.

Meanwhile, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), in its political affairs committee meeting, observed a one-minute silence and prayed for the departed souls, while offering condolences to the victims’ families.

While condemning the incident, Hindu Jagaran Manch has planned to organise a memorial meeting for the victims in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday evening.

Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati, Chief Minister Majhi, Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik, senior Congress leader Srikant Jena and many dignitaries have strongly condemned the attack. PTI AAM ACD AAM RG