Siddhant Chettri

Biography

Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri was born in 1998 in Bijanbari village, Darjeeling district, West Bengal, to Shri Kharka Bahadur Chettri and Smt Devi Kumari Chettri. Growing up watching his elder brother Om Prakash serve in the military, he carried a deep aspiration to wear the uniform from his earliest years. An accomplished athlete, he excelled at football and volleyball during his studies at Darjeeling Government College. Soon after completing his education, he enlisted in the Indian Army in 2019 and earned his place in the elite 9 Para (Special Forces) battalion of the Parachute Regiment. In March 2023, he married Ms Pragya from Darjeeling. On 5 May 2023, during a counter-terrorist operation in the Kandi Forest of Rajouri, his team closed in on a cave hideout sheltering heavily-armed terrorists. As the firefight intensified, the militants set off an explosive device inside the cave. Paratrooper Chettri sustained fatal injuries in the blast and laid down his life at the age of 24, alongside four of his comrades. For his exceptional courage and supreme sacrifice, Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri was posthumously awarded a Mention-in-Despatches.