Sukma attack: Gautam Gambhir pledges to bear educational expenses of children of slain CRPF jawaans

Former Indian cricket team member and currently the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Indian Premier League (IPL) Gautam Gambhir announced that he will bear the educational expenses of the children of 25 CRPF personnel who were killed in an attack by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Monday, April 24.

The cricketer's media manager has confirmed that the Gautam Gambhir Foundation will take care of the entire educational expenses of the children of the soldiers killed.

Reportedly, the cricketer has already started working on his pledge.

Gambhir, who has been heard expressing strong emotions against Pakistan-backed terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir, said he has been greatly affected by the massacre.

"On Wednesday morning, I picked up newspapers and saw gut-wrenching pictures of the daughters of two CRPF men killed in the latest attacks. One was saluting her martyred father while in the other picture, the howling young woman was being consoled by her relatives," Gambhir wrote in his column for Hindustan Times.

The veteran cricketer also wore black arm bands during Wednesday's match against Rising Pune Supergiant in Pune to show his respect for the martyred jawaans.

Union Minister of Urban Development and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation M Venkaiah Naidu took to Twitter to praise the Kolkata KKR skipper for setting an example.

"Compliments to @GautamGambhir for setting an example, pledging to bear educational expenses for kids of #SukmaMartyrs. Inspirational!," he tweeted.

The BJP, which who won the Muncipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday (April 26), also did not celebrate their victory as a mark of respect to the deceased CRPF men.