Rifleman Asin Rai

Rifleman Asin Rai hailed from Ratanchha village in Nepal and was born in the year 1984. He joined the army and was recruited into 5/11 GR battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles Regiment, an infantry Regiment well known for its intrepid soldiers and numerous battle exploits.

Nagrota army base attack : 29 Nov 2016

During Nov 2016, Rfn Asin Rai was serving with 5/11 GR battalion based at Nagrota in J&K.  On the fateful day of 29th November a group of heavily armed terrorists attacked 116 Med Regt camp at about 5.30 am in Nagrota and killed four soldiers. Thereafter the terrorists entered two residential buildings, in an attempt to cause more casualties. Three terrorists took over vantage positions in two residential buildings that housed officers' families and a Mess. Major Kunal Gosavi of 116 Med Regt on being informed about the attack immediately swung into action and activated the unit's Quick Reaction Team(QRT).  In the meantime Maj Akshay Girish Kumar of the nearby 51 Engineering Regt and his unit’s Quick Reaction Team(QRT) also reached the site. The soldiers of CRPF too reached the site to provide support to the army.  A team of soldiers from 5/11 GR battalion too joined the joint operation against the terrorists. Rfn Asin Rai was part of the 5/11 GR team which quickly reached the site and took up positions to hem in the terrorists. 

However in the ensuing exchange of fire, Rfn Asin Rai received gun shots and got seriously injured. He later succumbed to his injuries and was martyred. Rfn Asin Rai and his comrades not only engaged the terrorists and prevented the evil designs of the terrorists to take hostages and massacre innocents, but they also ensured that the terrorists could not spread out in the camp area and harm important military assets. However during the operation, besides Rfn Asin Rai six other soldiers made the supreme sacrifice which included Major Akshay Girish, Major Kunal Gosavi Mannadir, Hav Sukhraj Singh, Naik Chittaranjan Debbarma, Grenadier Raghavendra Singh and Lance Naik Kadam Sambhaji Yeshwantrao. The nation will remain grateful to Rfn Asin Rai for his courage and devotion to duty, who made the supreme sacrifice at the age of 32 years in the line of his duty.

Rfn Asin Rai is survived by his wife, Smt Madhu Kala Rai.