Indian Army Jawan Ravi Prakash Dies of Heart Attack During Promotion Course in Bengaluru
Indian Army soldier Ravi Prakash, a resident of Kasni village in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri district, died of a heart attack during a physical training session in Bengaluru while attending a promotion course that could have taken him to the rank of Havildar. His eight-year-old son, Dev, performed the last rites and lit the funeral pyre on Thursday, August 20, as villagers, Army personnel and local residents gathered for an emotional farewell with full military honours.
Prakash had been in Bengaluru for the promotion course, which ended on Tuesday, August 18. He was due to be elevated to Havildar on successful completion. On the morning of the final day, during an exercise or physical training session at the training ground, he suddenly became unwell. Fellow soldiers rushed him to hospital, but he could not be saved. The family was told that he had suffered cardiac arrest or heart failure.
According to his family, Prakash had spoken to his wife Sunita and son Dev on a video call the previous night, Monday, August 17. He told them that the training was nearly over and that he would soon return home as a Havildar. That conversation was the last time they heard from him.
Army service and background
Prakash joined the Indian Army in 2015 and was initially recruited into a Madras Engineering Regiment unit. At the time of his death, he was serving with the 54 Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles and was posted in Kashmir. He had left home for duty about two months earlier before being deputed to Bengaluru for the promotion course.
His father, Shri Krishna Sangwan, who is a farmer, later said that Prakash had been a five-time gold medalist in boxing, a detail that reflected the fitness and discipline he maintained during his service.
Final journey to Kasni
The soldier’s mortal remains were first taken to PGI Rohtak and then brought to Kasni in an Army vehicle on Thursday morning. By then, the grief had spread across the village and neighbouring areas. Hundreds of villagers and youths from Sanwad, also referred to as Sawad, around 8 km away, assembled with motorcycles decorated with the Tricolour and formed a bike rally to escort the vehicle to Kasni.
Schoolchildren stood along the route holding the national flag and raised slogans in Prakash’s honour as the procession passed through the area. The journey home became an outpouring of respect for the soldier and a public expression of the shock felt by the community.
At the cremation ground, Dev performed the last rites and lit his father’s funeral pyre. Army personnel then paid a final salute with a gunfire volley. Prakash’s father, Shri Krishna Sangwan, and his wife Sunita were overcome with grief as villagers tried to comfort the family. His belongings were also handed over during the ceremony, with the young boy receiving them on behalf of the family.
Village in mourning
Prakash is survived by his wife Sunita, who is a homemaker; his son Dev, aged eight; his father Shri Krishna Sangwan; his mother Neelam, a homemaker; his elder brother Dinesh, who is also a farmer; and his married elder sister Preeti. News of his sudden death left Kasni in deep mourning, with residents, youths and schoolchildren coming out in large numbers to pay their respects.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini expressed grief over the soldier’s death and paid tribute to his service and sacrifice for the country.
The death of a young soldier on the verge of promotion has left his family and the close-knit village stunned. For Kasni, the farewell was both a tribute to an Army man and a deeply personal moment shaped by the sight of an eight-year-old son lighting his father’s pyre.
