Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Shanti Swarup Rana was an Indian military officer, who was commissioned on June 11, 1977, into the 3rd Battalion of the

Bihar Regiment The Bihar Regiment is an Indian Army infantry regiment. It traces its origins back to the British Indian Army. The Bihar Regiment was formed in 1941 by regularising the 11th (Territorial) Battalion, the 19th Hyderabad Regiment, and r ...

. He is a posthumous recipient of

Ashok Chakra Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

, India's highest peacetime gallantry award.

Early life

Lt Col Shanti Swarup Rana, was born on 17 September 1949 in village Badla of Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. Youngest among his four brothers and three sisters, Lt Col Rana had his early education in a Govt School in Rampur, in Hoshiarpur district. He was among the best students of his class.

Military career

As Rana grew older, his passion for Army also grew. He initially joined the Army in the Corps of Signals and was later selected for the Army Cadet College, Dehra Dun. After completing his training, he was commissioned into 3 Bihar on 11 June 1977 as a second lieutenant, with promotion to lieutenant on 11 June 1979 and to captain on 11 June 1983. A veteran of Operation Rhino,

Operation Pawan Operation Pawan ( hi, कार्यवाही पवन ''Kãryvãhi Pavan'', lit. "Operation Wind") was the code name assigned to the operation by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to take control of Jaffna from the Liberation Tigers of ...

and Operation Rakshak, Rana was promoted to major on 11 June 1988. He became second-in-command of the 24 Rashtriya Rifles, after being promoted to the rank of Lt Col in 1994.

Operation in Haphruda Forest

On 2 November 1996, Lt Col Swarup Rana while serving with 13

Rashtriya Rifles The Rashtriya Rifles (RR; ) is a counter-insurgency force in India, formed in 1990, to specifically serve in the Jammu and Kashmir region. They also maintain public order by drawing powers from the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Po ...

was entrusted with the task of destroying two terrorist camps in the Haphruda forest of Kupwara District in Jammu & Kashmir. He spotted four well fortified hideouts stocked heavily with arms and ammunition including tonnes of explosives. In a gallant and swift strike, he destroyed these hideouts. One more well concealed hideout came to his notice. During the action that followed, the terrorists resorted to heavy firing from their well fortified bunker. Lt Col Rana organised his troops, crawled towards the bunker and threw hand grenades inside. Two foreign mercenaries came out firing heavily. He killed both of them instantaneously. Meanwhile, the terrorists seriously injured Lt Col Rana in heavy firing from another location. In spite of this, the gallant officer kept on boosting the morale of his soldiers. When one more terrorist advanced towards the soldiers, Lt Col Rana without caring for this own life, charged and killed him in a hand-to-hand encounter. In this action, this gallant officer sustained fatal bullet injuries and made the supreme sacrifice. Lt Col Rana displayed indomitable courage, patriotism and gallantry of the highest order. For this act of indomitable courage, Lt Col SS Rana was awarded the

Ashoka Chakra Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

posthumously.

Ashoka Chakra Awardee

Lt Col Rana was given the nation's highest peace time gallantry award, “Ashok Chakra” (posthumous) for his exceptional bravery, indomitable spirit, leadership and supreme sacrifice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rana, Shanti Swaroop 1996 deaths Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration) Indian military personnel killed in action Ashoka Chakra 1949 births