KL Gupta

Biography

Colonel KL Gupta hailed from Bamiyal village in the Pathankot tehsil of Gurdaspur district in Punjab, and was born on 09 May 1949 to Shri Shivraj Gupta and Smt Koushalya Devi. He completed his graduation in science from Guru Gobind Singh College, Chandigarh, and went on to earn a law degree from the Law College, Chandigarh. Inclined towards military service from his younger days, he pursued that ambition even while studying, and was eventually selected for the Army after passing the Combined Defence Services Examination. He passed out of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, as a Second Lieutenant in 1972 at the age of 23. He was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of the Assam Regiment, an infantry unit renowned for its dauntless soldiers and battle exploits, including its tenacious defence at Chamb during the 1971 Indo-Pak War. Over the years he served in various operational areas across diverse terrain, and by 1995, with about 23 years of service behind him, he had risen to the rank of Colonel and was appointed Commanding Officer of the battalion, then deployed in the Akhnoor sector of Jammu and Kashmir close to the Line of Control. His troops were engaged in constant counter-insurgency and counter-infiltration operations, remaining on high alert against militant ambushes and the landmines laid along patrol routes. On 23 September 1995, Colonel Gupta was leading an operational mission towards a forward post in a terrorist-infested area near Pallan Wala village in Akhnoor tehsil. As his party traversed the challenging terrain, they walked into a mine trap laid by militants. Leading from the front, Colonel Gupta bore the brunt of the blast, absorbing most of the splinters and shielding the comrades behind him. He succumbed to his injuries and was martyred, a committed soldier who laid down his life in the service of the nation.