Speaking to The Indian Express, SSP Pathankot, Harkamal Preet Singh Khakh, informed that the officer passed away around 6.30 pm on Saturday and that the body was handed over to her family after postmortem on Sunday.
Srinagar Corps Commander Bereaved
SRINAGAR: Lt Gen DP Pandey, the Commander of Srinagar based 15 Corps lost his father-in-law, Col Panjab Singh to Covid19, reports in the media said. A resident of Himachal Pradesh, he died at the Command Hospital in Chandimandir (Haryana) due to post-COVID complications. He was 79.
This was the second death in the family. Earlier, on May 21, Col Singh’s elder son, Anil Kumar also died of Covid19.
Col Singh was a decorated army officer who is credited for defending Poonch during the 1971 war. He was then a Major rank officer. “In the 1971 war, during Operation Cactus Lilly, the 6th Sikh occupied 13 km of front on the heights above Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir covering two strategic points, the loss of which would have directly threatened Poonch. Col. Singh, then a Major, was commanding a company deployed at Tund which had been actually limited to a platoon with the company headquarters,” an Army statement said.