Dehradun/Haridwar: "I love you, Vibhu". There was hardly a dry eye around when the emotional outburst of Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s wife Nikita came out in a whisper while bidding him adieu on the final journey in Dehradun on Tuesday. In Haridwar, 50 km away, when Major Dhoundiyal 's body was consigned to flames with full military honours, thousands were in attendance to pay their last respect to the officer who was martyred during an encounter with terrorists in Pingalan area of Pulwama district on Monday.The funeral pyre at Haridwar's Kharkhari cremation ground was lit by his uncle Jagdish Dhoundiyal in presence of his father-in-law MK Kaul, whose daughter Nikita he had married less than a year ago. State urban development minister Madan Kaushik, Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi, Haridwar mayor Anita Sharma, state Congress in charge Anugrah Nararan Singh and Congress MLA from Dharchula, Harish Dhami, besides BJP district president Jai Pal Singh were prominent among those who attended the last rites. Earlier, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat visited Major Dhoundiyal’s Nashville Road house in Dehradun to console his wife and mother Saroj.Earlier, there was a relentless stream of visitors to pay tributes to the martyr at his Dehradun house since Tuesday morning. It was a heart-wrenching moment when Nikita saluted and kissed her husband’s body, and whispered “I love you, Vibhu” before bowing to the coffin. Hailing from a Delhi-based Kashmiri family, Nikita Kaul had boarded a train to Delhi where she works in a private firm when she got the devastating news on Monday morning.“He always used to call me and had phoned me the previous night (Sunday) also, before going for the operation in Pulwama. That was the last we spoke. I told him that on Monday, I would return to Delhi and join office,” Nikita said. She had met Major Dhoundiyal four years ago and in April last year, they got married. “Ours is a simple love story. There was no melodrama," she added, trying to be as composed as possible to support her mother-in-law, who is a heart patient.Didn't Major Dhoundiyal's frequent engagements in anti-terror operations scare her? Nikita said: “As an army officer's wife, you always know that your husband is fighting for the country and anything can happen, but..." For once, she appeared broken but collected herself instantly. The family recalls the cold Monday evening when her husband's body, wrapped in Tricolour, arrived. “There was no mark on his face, below his ear there was a visible mark of blood clot,” said Indu Dhoundiyal, a close relative.Early on Tuesday morning, an army unit reached the house to accompany Major Dhoundiyal’s body to Haridwar for the last rites. Braving rain and cold, hundreds of people thronged his house. As the army vehicle carrying the martyr’s body moved out, the crowd, standing on each side, showered rose petals and shouted anti-Pakistan slogans.In Haridwar, thousands from the city had converged at the Kharkhri cremation ground on the Ganga banks. In the past five days, this ghat has already seen cremation of two armymen killed in terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir -- CRPF jawan Mohan Lal Raturi, who was martyred in Pulwama terror attack on February 14 and Major Chitresh Bisht, killed while defusing an IED in Rajauri district on February 17.

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