An LIC staffer, an interior designer, a retired accountant, two
honeymooners, a pony guide — HT chronicles the 26 lives lost when a bunch of terrorists
sprayed bullets at unsuspecting tourists holidaying at a scenic meadow in Jammu &
Kashmir’s Pahalgam
—
HT Correspondents
Manjunath Rao, 47,
Shivamogga
A Karnataka realtor
A Karnataka realtor
Rao was a realtor from Shivamogga in Karnataka. Rao with his wife and 18-year-old son had gone to Kashmir on April 19 and were scheduled to return on April 24. It was a family celebration as the son had scored 98% in the second PUC results. He was considering two options — Rajasthan and Kashmir — for a holiday but ultimately decided to go with latter. Kashmir was recommended by a neighbour who had just returned from Pahalgam, who said the Valley was peaceful and manned by adequate security.
Corporal Tage Hailyang, 30, Arunachal Pradesh
An IAF officer
Corporal Hailyang, from Tajang village in Arunachal’s Lower Subansiri district, was on vacation with his newlywed wife. Hailyang, eyewitnesses said, was asked about his religion before being shot. The assailants stripped him at gunpoint and discovered his IAF identity card, after which they shot him dead in front of his wife. The corporal, a Christian, was posted in Srinagar. His two brothers, both serving in the army and stationed in Srinagar, will accompany the mortal remains to their village.
Dinesh Miraniya, 45, Chhattisgarh
A steel businessman
IMiraniya, a steel businessman from Raipur, was celebrating his wedding anniversary in Kashmir with his wife Neha, daughter Lakshita, and son Shaurya. Neha, who suffered facial injuries from the gunfire, was the first to inform relatives in Raipur of the tragedy. She described the horrifying moments, recounting how the terrorists suddenly emerged, began asking for names, and then singled out the men for execution.
N Ramachandran, 65, Kerala
A businessman from the Gulf
Ramachandran, from Edappally in Kochi, was a Gulf expat who loved to travel. He was holidaying with his wife Sheela, daughter Arathi and her minor twin children. The family decided to go to Kashmir after Arathi flew home to Kerala from Dubai where she lived. Ramachandran was shot dead in front of his daughter and grandchildren as Sheela, who had recently undergone a heart surgery, stayed back in the car as the meadow could only be reached by foot or horseback.
Hemant
Joshi, 44,
Mumbai
A senior executive with a cargo firm
Joshi, a senior executive with a private cargo company in Andheri, was known in his neighbourhood as a warm, dependable, and ever-smiling man. His love for travel and food was well known; he often shared stories of his trips and new culinary finds on social media and with friends. Joshi was vacationing in Kashmir with his wife Monica and their 16-year-old son Dhruv, who had recently completed his Class 10 exams. His wife works as an accountant in a private firm. Joshi’s cousins Atul Mone and Sanjay Lele lost their lives in the same attack.
Atul Mone, 45, Mumbai
A railway workshop engineer
Mone, a section engineer at the central railways’ Parel workshop, was about to leave the meadow when the terrorists arrived, his sister-in-law Rajshree told HT. “The terrorists asked who among them was Hindu. When Sanjay Lele raised his hand, they shot a bullet into his head. My brother-in-law Atul was shot in the stomach. My sister saw it all. She thought he might survive...but he didn’t.” Mone left behind his wife Anushka and their 18-year-old daughter Richa, a Class 11 student.
Sanjay Lele, 50, Mumbai
A staffer at a pharmaceutical firm
Lele, who worked for a private pharmaceutical company, had meticulously planned the family vacation as they hadn’t taken one in 13 years after his wife Kavita was left paralysed in 2012. “This trip meant a lot to him. With the support of his cousins, they finally made it happen,” said Ramesh Amrutkar,77, a long-time neighbour who knew Sanjay since his childhood. While Lele was shot in the heart, his son, a second-year commerce student at a Mulund college, sustained injuries in the attack.
Sushil Nathaniel, 58, Indore
An LIC regional manager
Nathaniel was LIC’s regional manager for Alirajpur while his wife Jennifer, 54, is a government school teacher, and their daughter Akanksha, 34, works as a manager in a private bank in Surat. Along with their other child, 25-year-old son Austin, they went to Kashmir on April 21 for a vacation. Nathaniel’s brother’s wife Jaima Vikas said, “Austin called us on Tuesday evening. He was crying continuously. He told us that Sushil asked his wife, son and daughter to run away. The terrorists told Sushil to kneel down and recite an Islamic prayer. He told them he was a Christian. The terrorists fired a bullet in his chest while his daughter was shot in her leg. Jennifer got injured while running away from the attack.” Akanksha and Jennifer are recovering in hospital while Austin is safe.
Bitan Adhikari, 40, West Bengal
A techie based in Florida
Adhikari, a techie based in Florida, was in Kolkata on vacation and went to Kashmir on April 16 with his wife Sohini and their three-year-old son. They were supposed to return on the night of April 24. “I spoke with them on Tuesday morning. But then the horrific news came. He had asked me to join his family on the trip. I declined. I even advised them to avoid riding a pony in the hills,” Dipak Adhikari, the victim’s brother, said. “What will I tell Bitan’s son? He is just a kid. We are all shattered,” said Dipak.
Syed Adil Hussain Shah, 28, Jammu & Kashmir
A local pony guide
Shah, the only local killed in the attack, ran a pony ride service for tourists. Shah, who is being hailed as a hero for confronting the attackers, is survived by his wife, parents, two brothers and three sisters. “He was the family’s lone earning hand and used to travel 30km to Baisaran for work every day and used to make ₹ 600 to ₹1,000. Last evening, we came to know he has been killed,” Shah’s father Syed Haider Shah,60, said. J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said survivors had described how Adil was trying to save the tourists when he was killed.
Dilip Desale, 64, Mumbai
A retired pharma firm staff
Desale, a retired employee of the chemical company Lubrizol, was accompanied on the trip by his wife Usha, 56. Usha is unharmed. Two of their children live in Pune and one in Navi Mumbai. Desale was part of a yoga group, his friend Dev Kamble recalled. Madhukar Ujgare, another friend, said, “Desale was happy about his Kashmir trip. He said he had worked hard all his life and now wanted to enjoy his retirement by travelling around the country.”
Santosh Jagdale, 50, Pune
An interior designer
Jagdale, a resident of Karve Nagar in Pune, was in Kashmir with his wife Pragati, daughter Asavari and their close friend Kaustubh Ganbote and his wife Sangeeta. The group of five reached Kashmir last week and later joined another group of tourists to visit Pahalgam’s scenic Betaab Valley. Actor, filmmaker and screenwriter Pravin Tarde, Jagdale’s close friend of 15 years, said, “Santosh was a gifted interior designer—he was brilliant at whatever he put his mind to.” Jagdale’s brother, Avinash, said, “He was also a musician and had learned to play the harmonium.”
Kaustubh Gunbote, 54, Pune
An entrepreneur
For Kaustubh Gunbote, the Kashmir holiday marked was first genuine vacation—a milestone he reluctantly embraced after decades of unwavering dedication to his business. The entrepreneur, who began by delivering farsan on bicycle, had meticulously built a network of 50 franchises across Maharashtra. “His life revolved around his business,” recalled childhood friend Avinash Pawar. Two months prior, Gunbote had celebrated becoming a grandfather. Last year, he fulfilled his long-held dream of building a bungalow. Twenty years earlier, he survived a fiery vehicular accident with severe burns. “We thought he could survive anything,” his neighbour reflected, voice trailing into silence.
Shaileshbhai Kalathiya,
42, Surat
An SBI insurance staffer
The attack claimed Shaileshbhai Kalathiya one day before what would have been his 44th birthday. An SBI insurance department employee recently transferred to Mumbai’s Kandivli branch, Kalathiya had previously worked in Jodhpur. Originally from Drufaniya village in Amreli district, Kalathiya had established roots in Surat’s Harikunj Society. His family survived the attack that claimed him, left waiting in an administration office while officials arranged to transport him home—for final rites.
Yatishbhai Parmar, 47, and Sumit Parmar, 17, Bhavnagar
A hair salon owner and his teenager son
The Parmars’ journey from their
Kaliyabid neighbourhood in Bhavnagar culminated tragically amongst Baisaran’s verdant
meadows. Father and son—Yatishbhai, a hair salon owner, and Sumit, just 17—had travelled
with 18 others, including Yatishbhai’s wife Kajalben, who survived unharmed.
The
trio had attended spiritual leader Morari Bapu’s Ram Katha in Srinagar before venturing
to Pahalgam. Initially reported missing, security forces later confirmed what relatives
had feared most.
“Losing Yatishbhai and Sumit is devastating,” said Prakashbhai
Nathani, a relative who struggled to reconcile the protective bond between father and
son with their sudden absence. The attack, which claimed 27 lives, including three
Gujaratis, also injured Vinodbhai Dabhi, another Bhavnagar resident, whose arm was
grazed by a bullet.
Manish Ranjan, 42, Sasaram
An Intelligence Bureau officer
Intelligence Bureau officer Manish Ranjan’s final act embodied the
protective instinct that defined him. Hearing gunfire, he directed his wife Jaya and two
young children to flee in opposite directions—a split-second decision that saved their
lives while costing his own.
Posted in Hyderabad as section officer, Ranjan had
ancestral connections to Aruhi village in Bihar’s Rohtas district. The eldest of three
brothers, relatives described him as “loving, caring and intelligent from early
childhood.” Just days before the attack, he had invited a relative to visit Hyderabad,
calling it “a beautiful place to see and enjoy.”
Somisetti Madhusudhan Rao, 45, Bengaluru
A software company staffer
Rao lived in Ramamurthynagar in Bengaluru and worked in a software company. The Kashmir trip was planned with three of his colleagues along with their families. Originally from Andhra Pradesh, Rao was on a family trip with his wife and two children. People aware of the matter said his colleagues and their families were also nearby at the Baisaran meadow, but managed to escape the attack. His wife, and their two children had also been away when the terrorists opened fire and killed him.
Sudip Neupane, 26, Kathmandu
An undergrad student
“No mother should have to go through the pain to come home without her son. She is devastated with the loss of her son, whom she was planning to get married after he completed his studies,” said Dadhiraj Neupane, uncle of 26-year-old Sudip Neupane, from Kathmandu, while waiting to receive the body of his nephew. Sudip had traveled to Kashmir with his elderly mother, his sister, and brother-in-law on Saturday. Sudip was was pursuing his bachelors in public health and his mother had plans to get him married soon.
Neeraj Udhwani, 33,
Jaipur
A chartered accountant
Neeraj, a Dubai-based chartered accountant, moved to the UAE from Jaipur when he was three. He was settled in Dubai with his wife and was visiting Chandigarh to attend a wedding. ”The Kashmir trip was spontaneous,” said Prakash Udhwani, Neeraj’s uncle. “He planned his visit to Kashmir on April 20,” said Prakash. He had stepped out of the hotel in Pahalgam alone while his wife, Ayushi, stayed back. Ayushi soon heard gunshots and realised there had been an attack. “When she was searching for her husband, police informed her at night that Neeraj was no more,” said Prakash.
Prasanta Satpathy, 43, Balasore
An account assistant
Prasant worked as an account assistant with a skill development institute. He was visiting Kashmir with his wife and son and they had finished a zipline ride in the Baisaran meadow when on Tuesday afternoon when he was shot dead. They arrived in the Union territory on April 19 and Pahalgam was last on their schedule as they were supposed to fly to Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Hours before the tragedy, he shared videos and photos of their trip on social media. His family was clicking his photo when Prasanta was hit by a bullet in the head.
Bharat Bhushan, 41, Bengaluru
A software engineer
Bhushan went to Kashmir with his wife Sujatha 37 and three-year-old son on Friday and was to return on Wednesday. The terrorists shot him dead in front of his family. He worked as a software engineer and was managing a diagnostic centre with Sujatha, a doctor. According to Sujatha’s mother Vimala, once the dust of the shooting had settled, her daughter picked up Bhushan’s phone and fled to safety with their son. “She said she’s safe and will go to claim Bharat’s body from the hospital,” Vimala said.
JS Chandramouli, 68, Visakhapatnam
A retired banker
Chandramouli was on holiday with wife Nagamani and was sitting on the lush meadows of Baisaran when gunshots ripped through the afternoon air. He was shot dead as he tried to flee for his life, days after he arrived in Srinagar. Mouli spent his retirement in an apartment and actively supported the bank employees’ association, said Ravi Kumar, a neighbour. “This is highly shocking news. We didn’t believe it at first. It distressed me deeply—a tragic development,” Kumar told a local channel.
Shubham Dwivedi, 30, Kanpur
A cement businessman
Shubham and Ashanya, 27, had tied the knot just over two months ago. They put off a trip for weeks after their February 12 nuptials. Eventually, their families decided to take a trip to Kashmir. The 31-year-old businessman from Kanpur and his family had just got off the pony at Baisaran, when a man walked up to them and asked — “Are you Hindu or Muslim”. “We thought he was joking,” Ashanya said. “He asked again…I said, ‘Bhaiya, we are not Muslims’. And then, right in front of me, he pulled out a gun and shot Shubham in the head.”
Samir Guha, 52, Kolkata
A central government officer
Guha went to Kashmir, with his wife, Shabari, and their 17-year-daughter Shubhangi on April 16. Shubhangi had appeared for the Class 12 ISC exam. They were supposed to return on April 23. But before the family reached Kolkata, the news of his death trickled home. He was a central government officer with the ministry of statistics. “We were taking photos when we heard some gunshots. There were at least 10 – 15 terrorists. They were telling each other “inko chorna nahi” (Don’t spare them). And then they started firing,” Shabari told reporters.
Vinay
Narwal, 26, Karnal
An Indian Navy officer
Narwal, from Haryana, had been serving at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi for the past one and a half years after joining the Navy in 2022, officials said. He married Himanshi on April 16. The reception was held three days later. Stationed in Kochi, Narwal was on leave and vacationing in Kashmir when he was fatally shot in the attack. His colleagues remembered him as a dedicated, promising and cheerful officer. “Lt Narwal was always cheerful and deeply committed to his duties,” a Navy officer told news agency PTI.