Rahul Bhairu Sulagekar

Biography

Sepoy Rahul Bhairu Sulagekar hailed from Uchagaon village in Belagavi tehsil of Karnataka. The son of Shri Bhairu Sulagekar and Smt Geetha, he completed his studies at MLA RC College in Bangalore before joining the army. He was recruited into the 4th Battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment, an infantry regiment renowned for its gallant soldiers. During November 2019, Sepoy Rahul's unit was deployed in the Poonch sector of Jammu & Kashmir, with its troops manning the forward posts in the Krishna Ghati sector along the Line of Control. The area of operations was extremely volatile, with Pakistani forces frequently resorting to unprovoked firing from across the border, invariably to provide cover for infiltrating terrorists. One such attempt was made in the early hours of 8 November 2019, when troops at the forward post observed suspicious movement at around 2:30 am, accompanied by cover fire from across the border. Sepoy Rahul was manning one of the forward posts on that day. On detecting the suspicious movement, Sepoy Rahul and his comrades swung into action. The accompanying cover fire confirmed the infiltration attempt, and the troops soon made contact with the infiltrators. A fierce gun battle followed to foil the intrusion. During the exchange of fire Sepoy Rahul sustained gunshot wounds and was evacuated to the nearby medical aid centre, but he succumbed to his injuries. A valiant and dedicated soldier, Sepoy Rahul Bhairu Sulagekar laid down his life at the age of 22 years in the service of the nation.