Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan E K, head of National Security Guard’s bomb disposal unit who was killed while sanitising a terrorist’s body during the Pathankot air base terror attack in January, has been honoured with the Shaurya Chakra, the third highest peacetime gallantry medal of the country, on the eve of the 70th Independence Day.
Niranjan, an officer of the army’s corps of engineer, was part of the special NSG commandos unit that was rushed to the Indian Air Force base in Punjab after four terrorists entered the high-security military facility on the intervening night of January 1-2.
NSG had said it lost the experienced and brilliant counter-IED officer to a deadly booby trap as the terrorists had used an “innovative technique” whose antidote was not included in the Standard Operating Procedure of the ‘black cat’ commandos force.
Niranjan’s lungs got punctured due to the impact of the blast of a grenade that was kept in the pocket of a slain terrorist and the officer died before being taken to hospital.
NSG Director General R C Tayal, had maintained that Niranjan, an experienced and highly trained Commanding Officer of the Bomb Disposal and Detection Unit, had followed all laid down SOPs while sanitising the bodies of the four terrorists, killed in the attack on IAF base on January 3.
Niranjan was probably the only officer who had a wide-range of experience in conducting back-to-back anti-sabotage and sanitisation checks on live bombs, including defusing IEDs found in Patna and Bodh Gaya in Bihar, Bangalore and Burdwan in West Bengal.
The DG had said a grenade that took the Federal Bureau of Investigation-trained officer’s life was concealed very “cleverly” by the terrorists.
The brave officer had sanitised two bodies and was working on the third when the fatal blast claimed his life.
The Pathankot attack claimed the lives of seven security personnel while four terrorists were killed by NSG and other security personnel.
While the NSG has maintained six terrorists were involved in the attack, including two in the airmen billet which they brought down using heavy explosives, according to the National Investigation Agence, it so far has proof of presence of only four militants whose bodies were later recovered.
I-Day: 948 police, paramilitary personnel awarded medals
Meanwhile, a total of 948 central and state forces police personnel were also awarded gallantry and other service medals on the eve of Independence Day.
The top honour of Presidents Police Medal for Gallantry has been given to three Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel for thwarting terrorist attacks at Indian consulates at Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad in Afghanistan early this year.
One PPMG has also been given to Central Reserve Police Force Inspector Gulam Nabi Bhat and an official of the Intelligence Bureau and three policemen from Telangana for undertaking daring operations.
The list of braves also include three Home Guard jawans who laid down their lives in the line of duty during terrorist attack in Punjab’s Dinanagar police station last year on July 27.
Also, four fire service personnel from Maharashtra who died while combating a massive inferno in Mumbai last year have been decorated with the Presidents gallantry medals.
“President’s Police Medal for Gallantry has been awarded to seven personnel, Police Medal for Gallantry to 170 personnel, President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service to 88 personnel and Police Medal for Meritorious Service to 683 personnel.
Police personnel who have been awarded the PMG include 24 from Telangana, 16 from Odisha, ten from Maharashtra, eight from Jharkhand, nine each from Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, among others.
