Amritsar: A 30-year-old man from Amritsar was among the two Indian nationals whose deaths in the Russia-Ukraine warfront were announced by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Tejpal Singh was killed on March 12, but the family said they came to know about his death on June 9. The MEA said in a statement that two Indian nationals recruited by the Russian Army were killed in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. The identity of the second victim was yet to be known.
Tejpal’s father Preetpal Singh runs a grocery store in Palam Vihar. Tejpal is the elder of Preetpal’s two sons. His wife Parminder Kaur, whom he married in 2017, said he had initially tried to join the Indian Army but was unsuccessful. He then decided to go abroad to support his family. On January 12, he went to Russia on a tourist visa and joined the Army there, she said. The couple has a six-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter.
After completing his training, he was deployed to the border with Ukraine. Kaur said that on March 3, he called her and said that he would not be able to talk for a few days because he was going to fight. When there was no contact for a long time, Kaur called the Russian Army headquarters and found out that he had died.
The family said they had little hope that they would get Tejpal’s body from Russia. “We have no information about the body. The government should let us know if we can get his body or not,” said Kaur.
“We offer our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. Our Embassy in Moscow has pressed the Russian authorities, including the Ministry of Defence, for early repatriation of mortal remains,” the MEA said in its statement. It also said it had strongly taken up with the Russian authorities the matter of the release and return of all Indian nationals in the Russian Army.
In March, two Indians were killed during the conflict when they were forced to fight alongside the Russian Army. The deceased, Hemil Ashvinbhai Mangukiya, 23, of Surat in Gujarat, and Mohammad Asfan, 31, from Hyderabad, were hired as helpers for the Russian Army but were forced to participate in the ongoing war, their families had said. Their bodies were brought to Delhi on March 16 and flown to their homes in Surat and Hyderabad, respectively.
