SURYAPET: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday visited the house of Colonel late Santhosh Babu here and consoled the bereaved family members. Santhosh Babu, the commanding officer of the Bihar regiment protecting the Indian border in Ladakh, was killed in Chinese aggression a few days ago on the Line of Actual Control near Galwan Valley.

Accompanied by ministers Jagadish Reddy and Vemula Prashant Reddy and Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, he reached Colonel Santhosh Babu’s house and paid floral tributes to his portrait. He spent some time there consoling the grieving family members including Babu’s wife Santhoshi, parents Manjula and Upender and sister Sruthi. He also chatted up with the late colonel’s children Abhigna and Anirudh.

The Telangana chief minister, on this occasion, showered praise on Santhosh Babu for laying down his life to safeguard the country. Stating that he was deeply anguished by the death of the army officer, he assured his family of all the support from the government at all times. KCR urged them to get in touch with the government for any kind of help. He also directed minister Jagadish Reddy to take care of the family.

As was widely expected, the chief minister on this occasion handed over the appointment order for a state Group-1 post to Babu’s wife Santoshi. Besides this, KCR also handed over documents pertaining to the ownership of a 711-yard land site in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad to Santoshi. A cheque for Rs 4 crores for Santoshi and another cheque for Rs 1 crore for Babu’s parents were also formally given on this occasion.

The chief minister was accompanied by several MLAs, MLCs and district officials and leaders on this occasion.