Rifleman Surjan Singh KC

Rifleman Surjan Singh Bhandari hailed from Chamoli district of Uttarakhand and was born in the year 1980. Son of Shri Dhruv Singh and Smt Sureshi Devi, Rfn Surjan Singh, he had three brothers as his siblings. After completing his school education, he joined the Indian Army in the year 1999 at the age of 19 years. He was recruited into the Garhwal Scouts battalion, an elite infantry battalion of the Garhwal Rifles Regiment, specializing in long-range reconnaissance and high-altitude warfare and stationed permanently at Joshimath in Uttarakhand. Later, he was selected to join the National Security Guard, a force specially equipped and trained to tackle varous forms of terrorism. On completion of training, he was assigned to 51 Special Action Group (51 SAG) a unit specially trained for counter-terrorism operations. 

Operation Vajra Shakti: 24-25 Sep 2002

On 24 Sep 2002, two armed terrorists launched an attack on the Akshardham Swamy Narayan Temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Within a short span of time, the terrorists killed 30 people and injured over 100 people present in the complex. In response to this act of terrorism, an operation called, "Operation Vajra Shakti" was launched by Indian security forces spearheaded by 51 SAG, the offensive arm of NSG, specially trained to deal with such acts of terrorism. In the shortest possible time, 51 SAG commandos were flown in to deal with the situation. Rfn Surjan Singh formed part of that task force.

As the operation against the terrorists was launched, Rfn Surjan Singh and his comrades got deployed at various vantage points. The Task Force soon located the terrorists outside the main Temple Complex. While the terrorists were in thick shrubs and under cover of darkness, Rfn Surjan Singh and other commandos of National Security Guard were easily visible and consequently were fired at. The terrorists had to be pinned down to allow troops to move forward and neutralize them. Rfn Surjan Singh volunteered as a scout and moved ahead of his Squadron Commander. He crawled ahead behind a low wall under a hail of bullets. With utter disregard for his own safety, he brought down accurate fire on the terrorists and assisted his comrades to move forward.

Crawling close to the terrorists, Rfn Surjan Singh engaged them with fire. The terrorists retaliated with heavy fire on him, injuring him on his face. But undeterred, to give cover to the Commander, he dived and covered him with his body. In this process, he sustained more splinter injuries. Despite his injuries, Rfn Surjan Singh kept firing and lobbing grenades at the terrorists and refusing to be evacuated. He then noticed the flash of a terrorist's weapon. As he let off a burst from his carbine, the terrorists retaliated and he received a splinter injury in his brain. As a result Rfn Surjan Singh fell, and became unconscious. He was evacuated immediately and taken to civil hospital in Ahmedabad where he slipped into coma. Unfortunately, on 19th May 2004, he lost the toughest and longest battle against life, exactly after 600 days being in coma. 

Rfn Surjan Singh displayed outstanding valour and devotion to duty during the operation in the highest traditions of the Indian Army. Rfn Surjan Singh was given the nation’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award “Kirti Chakra” for his exceptional courage, unyielding fighting spirit, and supreme sacrifice.

The citation for the "Kirti Chakra" awarded to him reads:

On 24 Sep 2002, two armed terrorists entered the Akshardham Swamy Narayan Temple, Gandhinagar, Gujarat and started firing indiscriminately. The terrorists killed 30 people and injured over 100 people present in the complex.

The Special Action Group of NSG was flown in to deal with the situation. The Task Force located the terrorists outside the main Temple Complex. While the terrorists were in thick shrubs and under cover of darkness. National Security Guard personnel were easily visible and were fired at. the terrorists had to be pinned down to allow troops to move forward and neutralize them. Commando Surjan Singh volunteered as a scout and moved ahead of his Squadron Commander. He crawled ahead behind a low wall under a hail of bullets. With utter disregard for his own safety, he brought down accurate fire on the terrorists and assisted Squad No.3 to move forward.

Crawling close to the terrorists, he engaged them with fire. The terrorists retaliated with heavy fire on him. In this action, he received splinter injuries on his face. To give cover to the Commander, he dived and covered him with his body. In this process, he sustained splinter injuries. Despite his injuries, Commando Surjan Singh kept firing and lobbing grenades fixing the terrorists and refusing to be evacuated. He then noticed the flash of a terrorist's weapon. As he let off a burst from his carbine, the terrorists retaliated and he received a splinter injury in his brain stem. Even as he fell, he refused to part with his weapon till he became unconscious. 

The bold and decisive action of Commando Surjan Singh paved the way for elimination of the terrorists thus making the operation a success.