Vikas Prabhakar Sapatnekar

Biography

2nd Lieutenant Vikas Prabhakar Sapatnekar (Service No. IC-17272) was born on 6 June 1947 in Maharashtra into a military family — his father was a Brigadier and his elder brother also served in the Army. He was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers on 25 December 1966 and posted to 113 Mountain Engineer Regiment. On 20 March 1968, during Operation Orchid in the Mizo Hills, 2nd Lt Sapatnekar was returning from a bridge reconnaissance mission when his party was ambushed by Mizo rebels. In the fierce firefight that followed, he came under light machine gun bursts and sustained fatal injuries. He made the supreme sacrifice at the young age of 20, alongside Sapper Vasant Nalawade. In his honour, the bridge in the Mizo Hills was named 'Vikas Bridge', a road was named after him at Anand Park, Aundh, Pune, a memorial was erected at the site of his martyrdom, and a trophy was instituted in 113 Engineer Regiment.