Brigadier R D Mehta, the martyr of the dastardly Kabul suicide attack, was cremated on Tuesday at a solemn ceremony with full military honours.
   
Despite a drizzle, a large number of mourners led by Army chief General Deepak Kapoor turned up at the Brar Cemetery to pay homage to the officer, who fell victim to Monday's suicide car bomb attack at the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
    
"We bid farewell to a fine soldier," Kapoor told the grieving family, recalling his association with Mehta during his stewardship of the Udhampur-based Northern Command.
    
The wife of the slain Brigadier, Sunita, and the children, Udit and Bhawiya, close relations and associates of Mehta in the Army, though grief-stricken, kept their poise at the funeral, as Udit lit the pyre.
    
Defence Minister A K Antony, who had expressed his desire to personally attend the funeral, could not make it due to the day's fast-paced political developments. Antony sent a personal emissary, who laid a wreath on the coffin.
    
Men of the Rajputana Rifles gave a 21-gun salute and buglers sounded the last post as flight lieutenant Udit Mehta performed the last rites.
    
Wreaths were also laid on behalf of President Pratibha Patil [Images], who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi [Images], Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, and Air Chief Marshal FH Major, apart from a large number of Army, Navy and Air Force officers.

Earlier, Army officers handed over the tricolour used to drape Mehta's coffin and his uniform to Sunita, as a mark of respect to the gallant officer.
    
Kapoor also met the martyred Brigadier's father C D Mehta and assured him of all assistance from the government and the Army.
    
After lighting the pyre, Flt Lt Udit Mehta told reporters that his father had been his hero all along and would continue to remain one.
    
"My dad made the country proud. Rather than remember the end, I would remember him for how he lived," Udit said.
    
Udit had flown to Delhi from Kabul with the mortal remains of the slain Brigadier on Monday evening. The family is currently staying with their relatives in Delhi.
    
On behalf of the Afghanistan government, its defence attache at the Afghan embassy in Delhi laid a wreath and paid his tributes to the brigadier who had just taken over his post in Kabul five months ago before falling victim to the suicide bomber on Monday.
    
The other victim of the blast, senior Indian Foreign Service officer V V Rao, was also later created at the same site and his family flew in from Hyderabad to carry out the last rites.