Emotional farewell to ITBP trooper

ALAPPUZHA: A huge crowd gathered at the St Joseph's Church at Thirunelloor near Cherthala on Tuesday evening bid an emotional farewell to P G Jomon (26), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police constable, killed during a rescue mission in the rain-ravaged Uttarakhand.
Jomon was killed when an Mi-17 v5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force crashed near Gaurikund on June 24. The chopper was heading towards a temporary air base at Gaucher when it went down in difficult conditions.Twenty persons were killed in the mishap. A DNA test identified Jomon's body on Monday.
Jomon was the only son of Georgekutty and Joli George, Pottechira, K R Puram of Chennam Pallipuram. A hartal was observed in Pallipuram in respect of the departed soul.
The ITBP brought Jomon's body from the Cochin International Airport to his home village around 12.15pm. The body was kept at the Chennam Pallipuram grama panchayat office premises for the villagers to pay their last respects.
Two hours later, the body was taken to his home through the crowd, controlled by the personnel of the state police and ITBP. Later, the funeral procession, comprising mostly of students and youngsters, started its way to the church around 4.30pm.
Bugles sounded the Last Post and the ITBP gave a three-volley salute to its fallen trooper as the body was laid to rest around 5.45pm.
Minister in-charge of the district Anoop Jacob, collector N Padmakumar, MLAs P Thilothaman, A M Ariff, Mons Joseph, district police chief Thomson Jose and district panchayat president U Prathibha Hari also paid homage to the departed soul. Jomon had joined the ITBP on September 3, 2010 as a constable.