Indian Army
Raj Kumar Mahto
Lance Naik · 5 Rashtriya Rifles (parent unit 12 Jat, The Jat Regiment)
Date of Birth
9 October 1974
Balidan Diwas
4 June 2004
Place of Supreme Sacrifice
Ganderbal, Jammu & Kashmir
State of Origin
Ranchi, Jharkhand
Unit / Regiment
5 Rashtriya Rifles (parent unit 12 Jat, The Jat Regiment)
Operation
Counter-Insurgency Operations
Biography
Lance Naik Raj Kumar Mahto was born on 9 October 1974 in Masu village of Ranchi district, Jharkhand, the second of five children in a farmer's family. A man of progressive values from a young age, he opposed the practice of child marriage and championed the education of his youngest sister. After completing his matriculation and college studies, he distinguished himself as an athlete and a footballer. In 1994, at the age of twenty, he joined the Indian Army and was assigned to the 12 Jat Battalion of The Jat Regiment. Following postings at Binaguri and on the Siachen Glacier, his soldierly qualities earned him selection for commando training with the NSG in 1999 and subsequent service with a Special Action Group counter-terrorist unit. He returned to the 12 Jat in 2002 and was later deployed with the 5 Rashtriya Rifles in Kashmir for counter-insurgency operations. On 4 June 2004, during a cordon-and-search operation against militants in Ganderbal, Lance Naik Raj Kumar Mahto advanced towards a suspected hideout. The militants opened automatic fire and he sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Despite the determined rescue efforts of his comrades, he succumbed to his injuries during evacuation to the 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar at the age of twenty-nine, laying down his life in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.