Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh of the 57 Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles will be posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime military decoration.
The Army man, while leading a search operation at Kupwara in Jammu & Kashmir on August 24, 2014, came under heavy fire from terrorists. He rescued an injured Army person and shot dead one of the terrorists.
Naik Singh sustained a bullet injury in the chest. “Despite serious injuries, displaying unparalleled courage, he killed another terrorist in hand-to-hand combat,” reads his citation, adding that he refused to be evacuated till he became unconscious and later died of injuries.
ADVERTISEMENT
President Pranab Mukherjee will also posthumously award the Ashok Chakra to Major Mukund Varadarajan of the 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles, which was announced on Independence Day last year for his show of exceptional courage while leading an anti-terror operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
On the eve of the 66th Republic Day celebrations, the President has approved 374 awards of gallantry, including three Kirti Chakras and 12 Shaurya Chakras, and other defence decorations to the armed forces personnel and others.