Sultanpur village in Solapur district in Maharashtra will now be known as ‘Rahul Nagar’. Local residents have renamed the village in memory of a resident of their village who laid down his life while fighting terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The village, with 600 households, has a population of around 1,000.
Rahul Shinde, a state reserve police officer, was killed in the Mumbai terror attack 14 years ago. Rahul Shinde was in the first group of police to enter the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in south Mumbai after the news of the firing by terrorists surfaced. During the operation, the terrorists shot Rahul Shinde in the stomach and he lost his life.
Rahul Shinde was a resident of the Sultanpur village in the Madha taluka of the Solapur district in Maharashtra. For his supreme sacrifice, the government awarded him the President’s Police Medal posthumously. Now, the Sultanpur residents have decided to change the name of the village to honour Rahul Shinde.
According to reports, Rahul Shinde’s father Subhash Vishnu Shinde said, “All the official formalities to change the name of the village have been completed. We are now looking forward to the official program to announce the name change. We are waiting for the date to be finalized and it will be decided soon.” He said Vishwas Nangre Patil who was deputy commissioner of police of Mumbai at the time of the terror attack had helped me in the process.
Subhash Vishnu Shinde said, “I’ve been working on it for the last 10 years. It finally happened. I’m satisfied now and I don’t want anything else. I feel proud that this village will be known by my son’s name.”
Referring to his son’s sacrifice, he said he showed courage in fighting terrorists and sacrificed for the country. He added, “Rahul’s mother is still in grief. She still couldn’t brace herself according to the situation. She still doesn’t agree that Rahul is no longer in this world. After Rahul was martyred, the government helped us financially as per the rules. We also got a flat in Mumbai and a gas agency in the taluka which makes the family a living.”
It is notable that the Shinde family also built a memorial in the name of Rahul in the village in 2010.
