Saturday's terror attack took place in Manipur's Churachandpur district.
Thousands gathered at the Ramlila Maidan in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh to bid a teary farewell to Colonel Viplav Tripathi. The commanding officer of the Khuga Battalion of Assam Rifles was killed along his wife Anuja, 6-year-old son Abir Tripathy, and four other soldiers, in an ambush by terrorists near the India-Myanmar border in Manipur on Saturday.
Raigarh town was closed as a mark of respect to the 41-year-old Colonel. The final rites are to be held with full military and state honours.
Viplav Tripathi's father, Subhas Tripathi, is the owner-editor of a Hindi daily at Raigarh. His parents had spent Diwali with their son and family at Manipur.
"He was a very soft-spoken and humble person... people would not think he could be in such a commanding position in the army," Viplav Tripathi's uncle told journalists.
Saturday's terror attack -- one of the deadliest in the region in recent times -- took place in Manipur's Churachandpur district. Colonel Tripathi was on his way back from a forward camp when his convoy was ambushed.Sources said it started with a blast of an Improvised Explosive device or IED, and then heavy firing started from both sides of the road.
Manipur-based terrorist groups People's Liberation Army, or PLA, and Manipur Naga People's Front, or MNPF, have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Viplav Tripathi was reportedly inspired by his grandfather Kishori Mohan Tripathi -- a freedom fighter who later became a member of the Constituent Assembly -- to join the army. Kishori Mohan Tripathi died in 1994 when Viplav Tripathi was 14.
Colonel Tripathi's younger brother Anay Tripathi is a Lieutenant Colonel in the army.