Three personnel of the armed forces have been selected this year for the Kirti Chakra, the second highest peace time gallantry award, for their acts of bravery on the Line of Control (LoC), anti-maoist operation and relief operation in flood-hit Uttarakhand, respectively.
The three are among 368 gallantry award winners this year including 10 Shaurya Chakra awardees.
N Sub Bhupal Singh Chhantel Magar of the 5/5 Gorkha Rifles has been awarded the Kirti Chakra for killing two terrorists while foiling an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara.
IAF officer Wing Commander Darryll Castelino has been conferred the award for saving passengers and central armed forces personnel on June 23 last year before his Mi-17V5 chopper crashed killing all 20 personnel on board.
Constable Bhrigu Nandan Choudhary of CRPF's 205 Cobra Battalion is also given the award posthumously for his role in foiling a naxal attack in Bihar where he prevented the Left wing extremists from snatching the weapons of his colleagues in the patrolling party.
Magar, a resident of Rupendehi district of Nepal, has been awarded the Kirti Chakra for displaying exceptional bravery and leadership beyond the call of duty, in successful counter infiltration operations along the LoC.
On August 31 last year, Magar spotted movement of six heavily armed terrorists and immediately side-stepped his position in rugged and boulders-ridden terrain and closed in towards the terrorists, despite being under fire.
"The gallant soldier displaying nerves of steel, fired a long burst, killing one terrorist. Displaying raw courage, he pursued the second terrorist and injured him. While the injured terrorist was hiding behind a boulder, the Gurkha soldier unmindful of his personal safety, charged towards the terrorist and killed him," his citation reads.
Lt Col Bikramjit Singh of 16th Light Cavalry, who was killed in a suicide attack by terrorists on his unit in Samba in Jammu and Kashmir on September 26 last year, was given Shaurya Chakra.
He was directing personnel of his unit to counter the attack when he got killed.
Captain Mahabir Singh of the 9 (Special Forces) unit, who eliminated three terrorists during the Samba attack, has also been awarded the Shaurya Chakra.
More than 20 officers of the Indian Air Force have been awarded the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry for performing humanitarian relief operations in the flood-hit Uttarakhand.
Two officers of the IAF have also been awarded the Shaurya Chakra including Wing Commander Aditya Prakash Singh for safely landing his MiG 21 Bison aircraft despite engine failure.
Flight Lieutenant Krishnamoorthy Praveen, who was Wg Cdr Castelion's co-pilot on the ill-fated Mi-17V5 has been given the Shaurya Chakra posthumously.
Junior Warrant Officer Akhilesh Kumar Singh and Sergeant Sudhakar Yadav, who were present on the Mi-17 chopper, have been given the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry.
A resident of Mizoram, Sepoy Lallawmzuala of 18 Rashtriya Rifles (Rajputana Rifles) has been awarded the 'Shaurya Chakra for killing a top commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit while carrying out anti-terrorists operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sepoy Ran Bahadur Gurung of 5/5 Gorkha Rifles has been awarded Shaurya Chakra (Posthumous) for saving the lives of his colleagues while engaging terrorists trying to uinfiltrate near the LoC in Kupwara.
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