Kanika Rane, widow of Major Kaustubh Rane who attained martyrdom in August last year while fighting with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gurez sector, will join Officer’s Training Academy (OTA), Chennai in October this year. Kanika Rane cleared her Services Selection Board (SSB) interview in widows’ category in her first attempt. Lt Sangeeta Mall, Widow of Gorkha Rifles Jawan Joins Indian Army.

Kanika who who lives with her three-year-old son Agastya in Colaba will undergo 49-week rigorous training at the academy. Kanika’s in-laws hailed her decision to follow their son’s footsteps by joining the OTA. After completing the training she will be commissioned into the Indian Army as a lieutenant.

Major Rane was among the soldiers who were martyred on August 7, 2018, while fighting with terrorists in Gurez sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district. The officer belonged to Mira Road area of Thane district, adjoining Mumbai. As a tribute to the martyred army officer, the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in January this year laid the foundation stone for a memorial for Major Kaustubh outside Mira Road railway station.

Earlier this month, Garima Abrol, widow of Squadron Leader Samir Abrol one of the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots who died in a plane crash on February 1, this year in Bengaluru, cleared Services Selection Board (SSB) from AFSB Varanasi in the widow category. Garima will join the Air Force Academy (AFA) in Telangana’s Dundigal in January 2020.

In April this year,  Gauri Mahadik, the widow of Major Prasad Mahadik of the Indian Army joined to Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai. The 32-year-old Gauri prepared hard and cleared her Services Selection Board (interview) in the second attempt. She topped the merit list of the SSB in the widow category in her second attempt.