Havildar D Muthappan KC

Havildar Dhanaraj Muthappan hailed from Tamil Nadu. Son of Shri P Dhanaraj and Smt Smt Seethai, he got selected for the Army after completing his initial education. He was recruited to the 7 Madras Battalion of the famed Madras Regiment, a Regiment known for its intrepid soldiers and numerous battle exploits. By 1994, he had been promoted to the rank of Havildar.

Pulwama Operation: 12 July 1994

During the year 1994, Hav D Muthappan’s unit 7 Madras, was deployed in the Pulwama district of J&K. The Pulwama district of South Kashmir had been the hotbed for local as well as Pakistani militants, who were incessantly seeking the opportunity to destabilize the peace in that area. The Armed Forces maintained a high state of alert in the area to counter the infiltration attempts. There were numerous operations launched by the security forces to flush out the terrorists to maintain peace. On 12 Jul 1994, the security forces unit had received credible information from intelligence sources about the presence of terrorists in the Nohom village area of Pulwama district. After analyzing the situation a decision was taken by the security forces to launch an operation to flush out the terrorists. Consequently, the team comprising soldiers of 7 Madras unit, swung into action and launched the operation in the wee hours of 12 Jul 1994.

Hav Dhanaraj Muthappan was the commander of one of the cordon parties carrying out cordon and search of Noham village in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. Two terrorists trapped in the cordon, tried to escape by firing in different directions. They got into a paddy field and tried to crawl away under the cover of grass and thick foliage. Hav Muthappan, on observing some movement of grass, immediately launched a search of the field to prevent any escape. He was personally leading one such group inside the field when he suddenly came face to face with the two terrorists. Consequently a brief firefight at close quarters ensued. During the exchange of fire, Hav Muthappan got grievously injured. Despite being injured and bleeding profusely, Hav Muthappan did not give up and charged at the terrorists with renewed vigour and shot them dead on the spot. However, while doing so, he was once again hit by bullets in the chest. He soon succumbed to his wounds and was martyred. Hav D Muthappan was a valiant and gritty soldier, who laid down his life in the line of his duty displaying unparalleled courage and gallantry. Hav D Muthappan was given the nation’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award, “Kirti Chakra” on 26 Jan 1995 for his outstanding courage, devotion to duty, and supreme sacrifice.

The citation for the ‘Kirti Chakra’ awarded to him reads :

Havildar Dhanaraj Muthappan was the commander of one of the cordon parties carrying out cordon and search of village Noham in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on 12 July 1994. Two anti-national elements (ANES) trapped in the cordon, tried to escape by firing in different directions. They got into a paddy field and tried to crawl away under the cover of grass and thick foliage. Havildar Muthappan, who was the cordon party commander, on observing some movement of grass, immediately organized a search of the field very tactfully. He was personally leading one such group inside the field when he suddenly came face to face with the two militants. A sudden and brief firefight at close quarter militant ensued. Havildar Muthappan was greivously injured during the exchange.

Inspite of being grievously injured and bleeding profusely, Havildar Muthappan displaying heroism and chivalry of exceptional dimensions did not give up but charged at the militants with renewed vigour and shot them dead on the spot. However, in this action he was once again hit by bullets in the chest and succumbed to his wounds making the supreme sacrifice while carrying out his duty. Two rifles AK-56, six magazines and 82 rounds of AK 56 and one stick Grenade were recovered from the dead militants.

Havildar Dhanaraj Muthappan, thus, displayed exceptionally high degree of dynamism, unparalleled courage and total devotion to duty.