"I am in deep shock right now, I don't know what to say... I have lost the light of my life," Prakash Rane, father of Major Kaustubh Rane, said yesterday after news of his martyrdom reached the family in Mira Road.

The 29-year-old armyman along with three hawaldars was killed while fighting terrorists in Kashmir's Gurez sector last morning. He is survived by his wife, two-year-old son and parents; the latter were moving to their hometown in Ratnagiri when they got the news and turned back midway to return to the residence in Shanti Park, Kashimira.