CALCUTTA, JULY 18: It was a life swinging between hope and despair for nearly two months for the family of Lieutenant Kanad Bhattacharya of the 8th Battalion of Indian army's Sikh Regiment. But all their hopes were shattered yesterday when the army spokesman in New Delhi announced that the body of the 24-year-old officer from Calcutta was found near Tiger Hill where he alongwith a group of soldiers went into a probe mission on May 21 and was killed by Pakistani intruders.``We received a letter from him on May 12 which said that he was well,'' Jaba Bhattacharya, elder sister of the Kargil martyr who lived with their parents and another sister at Shree Apartments of Baranagar, a suburb north of Calcutta, told this reporter. ``And that was the last communication we received from him,'' she said. Her uncle Biman Ckakrabarty who also spoke to this reporter claimed that Bhattacharya spoke to him also on that day. ``He told me uncle, the thieves are playing hide and seek with us, but we will catch them and finishthem all,'' Chakrabarty said.Jaba says that after May 12 when they failed to get any news about Kanad for nearly 15 days, they began checking with the army authorities in Calcutta and Delhi. In the middle of June, they received a telegram from the army authorities in Delhi which said that the officer had been missing in action since May 21.According to Chakrabarty, some members of the 8th battalion of the Sikh Regiment who accompanied Bhattacharya on that fateful mission on Tiger Hill visited the family in Calcutta end of last month and told them that they last saw the officer on that day exchanging fire with the enemy. ``The soldiers told us that it was before Operation Vijay was launched and the team was sent on a probe mission to ascertain the level of intrusion on Tiger Hill. When they were on a height of 13,000 ft, they were surrounded by the intruders and a grim battle ensued. The Indian soldiers lay on the ground and got scattered and that was the last time they saw their officer,'' Chakrabartysaid.Son of an income tax officer, Bhattacharya was born and brought up at Tala near Shyambazar in north Calcutta and studied in Calcutta's St. James School and later graduated from SA Jaipuria college at Shyambazar. ``He was a gritty young man, a karate black belt holder and a good cricketer,'' Jaba said.She also said that though there was nobody from their family in the army, Kanad always wanted to join the army. He joined the Officers' Training Academy of the army in Chennai and was commissioned on March 5 this year.The officer's body was to be brought to Calcutta in the evening and cremated on Sunday.
