Family members of N. Ramachandran, who died in the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, break down as they pay their last respects at Changampuzha Park in Kochi on April 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat

Hundreds from far and wide kept flocking to Changampuzha Park, Edappally in Kochi, on Friday (April 25, 2025) morning to pay homage to N. Ramachandran, 65, who was among the 26 persons gunned down by terrorists at Baisaran Valley, Pahalgam, in South Kashmir.

The body that was kept in the morgue of Renai Medicity at Palarivattom after being flown from Srinagar was taken to Changampuzha Park at 7 a.m.

A tearful Sheela Ramachandran, Ramachandran’s wife, who had accompanied him to Kashmir but was not told about his death till the body was flown down to Kochi, sat with folded hands by the side of the body in a mobile freezer atop which floral tributes kept mounting. His daughter Arathy Sarath, her twin children, and son Aravind Ramachandran sat alongside.

Ramachandran was a regular walker at Changampuzha Park in the immediate neighbourhood of his house at Edappally and had quite a few acquaintances there. It was heartbreaking for them to see his body.

Though originally the plan was to wrap up the public homage in two hours by 9 a.m., it exceeded that owing to the incessant flow of people. Even those who had never known Ramachandran during his lifetime arrived to pay tributes as a show of solidarity.

Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar called Ramachandran’s killing a “murder of humanity” and an attack against “the meaning of India.”

“The Central government and the security forces will not allow the attack against the country to succeed. The governments at the Centre and the States uniting in the face of such a challenge demonstrated the country’s strength. Citizens should also stand united to uphold nationhood,” Mr. Arlekar told the media after paying homage to Ramachandran.

Goa Governor P. S. Sreedharan Pillai said the terrorist attack in Pahalgam “has united the world like no other incident” in recent history. “The country will not surrender to such cruelty, he said.”

The body will be taken to Ramachandran’s house for the last rites, after which it will be cremated at Edappally crematorium in the afternoon.

Kerala High Court Judge Devan Ramachandran, Industries Minister P. Rajeeve, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, MPs Hibi Eden and Benny Behanan, Mayor M. Anilkumar were among those who paid homage.