Ravinder Chhikara, KC

Biography

Lieutenant Ravinder Chhikara was born in the village of Kheri Asra in Haryana to Dr. Ratan Singh and Kamla Devi. After completing his schooling, he joined the National Defence Academy, where he was declared the 'Best Sportsman' of his course. He earned the same distinction again at the Indian Military Academy. He was commissioned into the Indian Army on 12 December 1998 and posted to the 6th Grenadiers. While his unit was deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, it received information about the presence of terrorists in a village named Nalili. On 19 July 2000, Lieutenant Chhikara led a Ghatak team in a joint operation with soldiers of 16 Sikh. As the team advanced, the terrorists spotted them and opened heavy fire. Locating the source, Lieutenant Chhikara moved towards the house under covering LMG fire, stormed in fearlessly and shot one terrorist. He then pursued two others who tried to flee, discarding his bulletproof jacket to close in. In a fierce final exchange he gunned down the terrorist who had fired at him, but sustained fatal injuries. Six foreign mercenaries were killed in the encounter. For his conspicuous gallantry, he was awarded the Kirti Chakra.