Puneet Karol, SM

Biography

Major Puneet Karol was born on 8 July 1976 in Kotla Nullah, Himachal Pradesh. He studied at St. Edward's School, Shimla and St. Luke's School, Solan, and graduated from Government College, Solan, before joining the National Defence Academy in September 1994. After training at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, he was commissioned in 1999 into the 210 Rocket Regiment of the Regiment of Artillery, and served in Jammu & Kashmir before training as a helicopter pilot with the Army Aviation Corps. On 24 May 2007, Major Karol was the co-pilot of a Cheetah helicopter of the 661 Army Aviation Squadron flying a reconnaissance mission to Karcham in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. During the flight the helicopter struck high-voltage power lines, crashed and caught fire. Major Karol lost his life in the accident along with the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel JMPD Cunha. He was thirty-one years old. For his courage and devotion to duty, Major Puneet Karol was posthumously awarded the Sena Medal.