New Delhi, Friday 23 January 2009: Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Colonel Jojan Thomas were among the eleven brave hearts who are to be honoured with the Ashok Chakra, posthumously, on Republic Day.
Major Unnikrishnan was the team commander of 51 SAG deployed in the operation at the Taj Mahal Hotel to rid the building of terrorists and rescue the hostages. He entered the Hotel in a group of 10 commandos and reached the sixth floor through the staircase. As the team descended the stairs, they sensed the terrorist at the third floor. The terrorists had held a few women as hostages in a room and locked it from the inside. After breaking open the door, the round of fire by the terrorists hit Commando Sunil Yadav, who was Major Unnikrishnan’s buddy pair.
Major Unnikrishan led his team from the front and engaged the terrorists in a fierce gunfight. He arranged for Commando Sunil Yadav’s evacuation and regardless of personal safety chased the terrorists who, meanwhile, escaped to another floor of the hotel, and while doing so Major Sandeep continuously engaged them. In the encounter that followed, he was shot from the back, seriously injured and succumbed to injuries.
Sandeep joined the National Defence Academy (India) in 1995. He was a Cadet, part of the Oscar Squadron (No 4 Battalion) and a pass out of the 94th Course of NDA. He graduated as a Bachelor of Arts (Social science stream).
His NDA buddies remember him as “selfless”, “generous” and “calm and composed”.
Col Jojan Thomas was commissioned on 08 Mar 86 from OTA, Chennai in 11 JAT Regt. Besides holding prestigious staff appointments as GSO-1 (Ops) 3 Corps and Instructor FTM, ASC Centre & College Bangalore was also an experienced Pilot (flying). Despite the injury Col Thomas continued the search in the dense forested area and again confronted the terrorists. This resulted in the death of two more terrorists. However, Col Thomas too suffered fatal injuries in the fresh firefight and succumbed to his injuries. So far the unit has received confirmation of six terrorists having been killed.
The prestigious Ashok Chakra award is India’s highest peacetime gallantry award. It is also the peacetime equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra and is given “for the most conspicuous bravery or some act of daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice otherwise than in the face of the enemy”.
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