104-yr-old freedom fighter passes away

An Indian Army freedom fighter and a close associate of Neta Ji Subhash Chander Bose, Hoshiyar Singh, of Bara village of Dehra subdivision, passed away on the Independence Day after a brief illness at Bara village.

Hoshiyar had travelled 6,000 km by foot from Rangoon to Layshi to enter India to fight with the British Army. He was court marshalled and sentenced to death which was later converted into life imprisonment.

He was 104 years old and left behind three sons. His wife Kushalia Devi had passed away nine years back.

He died because of shrinking food pipe and for the last three days he could not eat, said his family members.

He was cremated with state honour and SDM and Tehsildar, Dehra, on behalf of the government paid last tributes to the freedom fighter. His pyre was lit by his youngest son Vinod Singh parmar.

Born in 1912, he joined the Dogra Company in the Burma Military Police in 1932.

He joined the Indian National Army (INA) under the leadership of General Mohan Singh 1942 and joined the Secret Service Group (SSG) in Malaya. Neta Ji assigned him a job of entering India by foot, he was caught on the India-Burma Border on February 2, 1944.