Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari MVC |
|
---|---|
Born |
Nainital, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand), India |
December 25, 1970
Died | May 30, 1999 Tololing, Kargil, Jammu and Kashmir, India |
(aged 28)
Allegiance | Republic of India |
Service/branch | Indian Army |
Years of service | 1993-1999 |
Rank | Major |
Unit | 18 GRENADIERS |
Battles/wars |
Kargil War Operation Vijay |
Awards | Maha Vir Chakra |
Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari, MVC (December 25, 1970 – May 30, 1999), was an Indian Army officer who died during the Kargil War. He was posthumously awarded the second highest Indian military honour, the Maha Vir Chakra for bravery on the battlefield.
Adhikari was brought up in Nainital, a picturesque hill station in northern India. He completed his schooling from St. Joseph's College in 1987, Intermediate from Government Inter College, Nainital and B.Sc. from Kumaon University in the year 1992.
He attended the Indian Military Academy, a premier military academy in India.Major Rajesh Singh was commissioned on 11 December 1993 from the Indian Military Academy. After graduating from the Academy, he joined the 2 Mech. Infantry of the Indian Army. He was posted in 18 Grenadiers at the time of Kargil War.
When heavy fighting broke out in the Kargil region of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir owing to planned infiltration by militants backed by the Pakistan army, the Indian Army was ordered to clear the heights of those intruders. Many tough battles took place in the region. The Mechanized Infantry's Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari, the second army officer to die in the operations against infiltrators, had caused heavy casualties to the intruders and forced them to withdraw before succumbing to injuries in Drass sector. It was one of the most significant battles, the Battle of Tololing, where Rajesh made a valiant sacrifice.
On 30 May 1999, as a part of battalion operations to capture the Tololing feature, Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari, 18 Grenadiers was tasked to secure the initial foothold by capturing its forward spur where the enemy held a strongly fortified advance position. The post was located in a treacherous, mountainous terrain at about 15,000 feet and covered with snow. While Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari was leading his team towards the objective, he was fired at from two mutually supporting bunkers with universal machine guns. The officer immediately directed the rocket launcher detachment to engage the bunker and without waiting, rushed into the bunker and killed two intruders in close quarter combat.