Ketan Sharma

Biography

Major Ketan Sharma was born on 4 October 1987 in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Drawn to a life in uniform from his youth, he cleared the Combined Defence Services examination and trained at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, from where he was commissioned in 2012 into the Corps of Engineers. After his initial posting with the 57 Engineering Regiment he rose to the rank of Major and was later deputed to the 19 Rashtriya Rifles for counter-terrorism duties in the Kashmir Valley. On 17 June 2019 Major Sharma led his team in an operation against militants in the Bidura village area of Achabal in Anantnag district of south Kashmir. Leading from the front during the close-quarter gun battle, he eliminated one terrorist but was struck in the head by enemy fire. Grievously wounded, he was evacuated but succumbed to his injuries, laying down his life in the service of the nation at the age of thirty-one.