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Holiday Turns Tragic: Three Bengal Tourists Slain in Pahalgam Attack, State Mourns Loss
Three residents of West Bengal, including a young tech professional, a government employee, and an Intelligence Bureau officer, were among those killed in a brutal terrorist attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday. The incident has sent shockwaves through the state, with grieving families and leaders expressing outrage and sorrow.
The victims have been identified as Bitan Adhikari, Sameer Guha, and Manish Ranjan — all of whom were visiting the Valley with their families on holiday.
Bitan Adhikari, a 40-year-old software engineer with Tata Consultancy Services, was gunned down in front of his wife and young son during the attack. A resident of Baishnabghata in Kolkata, Bitan had only recently returned from the United States and was on an eight-day vacation in Kashmir with his wife Sohini and their three-year-old son, Hridaan. The family had arrived in the Valley on 16 April and was scheduled to return to Kolkata on 24 April.
Another victim, Sameer Guha, 52, was a central government employee working under the Ministry of Statistics. A resident of Sakher Bazar in Kolkata’s Behala area, Guha was also on a family vacation in Kashmir with his wife and daughter when the terrorists struck. He, too, was killed in the same indiscriminate attack, leaving behind a devastated family.
The third victim, Manish Ranjan, an Intelligence Bureau officer from Purulia’s Jhalda, was also killed in the terror strike. Ranjan had been serving in the IB’s ministerial wing in Hyderabad for the past two years. He was visiting Kashmir on a Leave Travel Concession (LTC) trip with his family when the militants opened fire in the Baisaran area of Anantnag district. According to officials, he was shot dead in front of his wife and children.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her deep sorrow over the deaths. In a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), she said, “As per latest updated information made available to us, 3 persons from our State have died in the most unfortunate Kashmir violence.”
“A grim hour for all of us. Our victims are: Bitan Adhikari (of Baishnabghata, Kolkata), Samir Guha (Sakher Bazar, Kolkata), and Manish Ranjan (Jhalda, Purulia). No word is enough as condolence for their families, even while my heart goes out to them. We stand by the families," she added.
The mortal remains of the three victims were brought back to their homes in closed coffins on Wednesday night. As grieving families and neighbours gathered, the victims were given tearful farewells, their lives cruelly cut short by violence while on a vacation.
