The body of the tourist is to be brought to the State on Thursday (April 24, 2025)
| Photo Credit: PTI
Three tourists from West Bengal who were killed in the terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday (April 22, 2025) include an IT professional, a govt employee and intelligence officer
The deceased have been identified as Bitan Adhikari, a resident of Baishnabghata in Kolkata and Sameer Guha, a resident of Behala in the city and Manish Ranjan from Jhalda in State’s Purulia district.
Pahalgam terror attack LIVE updates
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also confirmed that as per latest updated information made available to us, three persons from our State have died in the “most unfortunate Kashmir violence” and added that West Bengal resident commissioner’s office in Delhi is in touch with the family members and she was personally overseeing the arrangements for return of the families and the body of the victim
Bitan Adhikari, a 40-year-old IT professional working at Florida in the United States of America was on a vacation to India. A native of Kolkata’s Baishnabghata area, he was on vacation in Kashmir with his wife Sohini Adhikari and three-year-old son.
West Bengal Minister Aroop Biswas who met with the family members of the victim who left for Kashmir on April 16, was supposed to be back by April 24. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had spoken to the wife over the telephone of the deceased after the incident.
“We have no one in this world other than our son. Who will provide our food and medicines now? He used to look after the whole family,” mother of Bitan Adhikari said.
Manish Ranjan, one of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, was an intelligence bureau officer posted in Hyderabad. While his residence according to the Union Home Ministry is in Bihar’s Rohtas, Manish Ranjan’s parents reside in ward number 5 of West Bengal Purulia’s Jhalda town.
He is survived by a wife and two children. Manish was the oldest of three siblings, and his father, Mangalesh Mishra, is a retired school headmaster and lives in Jhalda town. Mr Ranjan was reportedly in Jammu and Kashmir for a pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi Temple. “This is a shameful incident. The central government should take strict action to address this. It is unfathomable that innocent people, including a member of my own family, fall victim to such a heinous crime,” a relative of the deceased said. West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar visited the family in Purulia,
Samir Guha, 52-year -old central government employee from Behala in Kolkata was also among those killed in the terrorist attack. Mr. Guha is survived by his wife and daughter, who were with him during the attack. On Tuesday morning, police personnel of Thakurpukur Police Station arrived at the Sakher Bazaar home of Samir Guha to break the lock of the closed flat. Relatives of Mr. Guha, including his brother-in-law, also arrived at their house. “The West Bengal government got in touch with us regarding the details of what unfolded. Today was supposed to be the last day of their trip. The last time we spoke to them was yesterday morning. We had thought Kashmir had changed, but this proves it has not,” the brother-in-law said.
All the three deceased were on a vacation to Pahalgam and were accompanied by their family members and were shot in front of them by terrorists. The body of the deceased is likely to be brought to Kolkata in late hours of Tuesday or early Wednesday.
Published – April 23, 2025 11:37 am IST