Nitin P Chavan

Biography

Captain Nitin P Chavan was born on 4 January 1977 and hailed from Pune in Maharashtra. He was the son of Shri Prakash Chavan and Smt Sunanda Chavan. He completed his schooling at St Joseph's up to class X and later studied at Fergusson College, Pune, until 1994. Drawn to the Armed Forces from an early age, he joined the National Defence Academy in 1994 and went on to graduate from the Indian Military Academy. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant on 13 June 1998, at the age of 21, into the 115 Engineer Regiment of the Corps of Engineers, one of the oldest arms of the Indian Army. On his first posting he was deployed to the Jammu & Kashmir area, where he took part in challenging operations in the early part of his service career. During 1999, Captain Chavan's unit was deployed in the Rajouri Sector of Jammu & Kashmir, a region heavily affected by terrorist activity. On 13 September 1999, he was leading a patrol party when, around 1:45 PM, he observed a group of five militants moving suspiciously near Majhiari School in the Rajouri Sector. Quickly assessing the situation, he divided his party into two groups and moved fast to engage the militants. After a chase, his troops spotted the militants in a maize field, and on being challenged the militants opened fire, triggering a fierce gun battle that lasted about an hour. Spotting two militants firing at his men, Captain Chavan resolved to neutralise them and moved swiftly to close in. His daring action took the militants by surprise, buying his troops time to reorganise, but during the exchange of fire he was seriously injured and later succumbed to his wounds. Leading from the front, Captain Nitin Chavan laid down his life in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.