Kapil Vinayak

Biography

Major Kapil Vinayak hailed from Pune district of Maharashtra and was born on 26th October 1974. He spent his early school years at the City Montessori School in Anand Nagar, Lucknow, before his family moved to Jalandhar in Punjab, where he completed his schooling at St. Joseph's Convent School. Drawn to the Armed Forces from his younger days, he worked steadily towards that goal and was eventually selected to join the Army, being commissioned as an officer in 1997 at the age of 21. He was commissioned into the Army Service Corps (ASC), the logistic supply arm of the Indian Army. In 1999 he served at the Siachen Glacier and took part in operations during the Kargil War. By 2005, after nearly eight years of service, he had risen to the rank of Major. During July 2005, his unit, the 5131 ASC Battalion, was deployed in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, providing logistic support to a number of units located in forward areas. With militants active in their area of operation, the troops maintained a high state of alert and moved by road in convoys to meet their operational commitments. On the morning of 20th July 2005, Major Kapil Vinayak was leading one such convoy on his way to an operational area. At about 9:30 a.m., as the convoy reached near the Christian Missionary Burn Hall School, roughly one kilometre from the central Lal Chowk in Srinagar, militants attacked it in a pre-planned move with a powerful IED blast that caused extensive damage. Major Kapil Vinayak and two of his comrades, Naik Ram Krishen and Sepoy S. C. Dubey, were seriously injured and later succumbed to their injuries. A brave and committed officer, Major Kapil Vinayak laid down his life in the line of duty at the age of 30.