Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

D. Sreeram Kumar AC (born 11 January 1981) is a serving

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

officer who was decorated in 2010 with the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime gallantry decoration.

Early life

Sreeram Kumar was born in

Kovilpatti Kovilpatti is an Industrial City and Special Grade Municipality in Thoothukudi District in the Indian States of India, state of Tamil Nadu. History The town already existed before 1876. Kovilpatti was a water stop for steam engines after the ...

and did his schooling in

Sainik School, Amaravathinagar Sainik School Amaravathinagar is a Boys and Girls English medium, residential public school with a military bias up to +2 stage as per the CBSE board Syllabus. It is one of the 33 Government aided Sainik Schools in India, located in Udumalpe ...

and passed out in 1998. He did his under graduation at

The American College in Madurai The American College, often referred to as American College, is one of the oldest colleges in India, located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded in 1881 by American Christian missionaries. The red-brick buildings, in the Saracenic style, ...

Army career

Kumar joined the

Officers Training Academy The Officers Training Academy (OTA) is a training establishment of the Indian Army that trains officers for the Short Service Commission (SSC). The 49-week course at the OTA prepares graduates for all branches of the Army, except for the Army Me ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in October 2002 and received a short-service commission in 90 Medium Regiment (Artillery) on 20 March 2004, with the rank of lieutenant. On 20 March 2009, he received a regular commission (seniority from 20 October 2004) with the service number IC-66076A, and was promoted captain on 20 October 2006. Promoted acting

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 24 August 2008, he served with 39 Assam Rifles in

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

(Operation Orchid) and later in

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...

(Operation Hifazat).

Ashoka Chakra citation

A brief about the action reads:

Subsequent career

Kumar is an instructor at the Indian Military Academy (IMA). He received a substantive promotion to major on 20 October 2010, with promotion to

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 colonel. ...

on 20 October 2017. On 31 January 2021, he was promoted to

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

(by selection), with seniority from 26 October 2019.

Controversy

In March 2013, a Supreme Court judicial commission ruled the killing of cousins Gobind and Nobo Meitei in the Langol area of Imphal to have been a staged encounter. The killings took place on 4 April 2009, and involved a joint team of local police and a unit of 39 Assam Rifles commanded by Kumar. While official statements from the paramilitary forces were that the cousins had opened fire when challenged and had been killed in response, the judicial panel concluded that based on medical evidence and witness testimonies, the action was "not an encounter but an operation by the security forces wherein death of the victims was caused knowingly". Referring to the encounter, in which 89 rounds were fired at the pair, Kumar was reported as saying the encounter had been genuine, and that his understanding was "when a person is warned by the security forces and if he reacts by firing, such a person is a hardcore terrorist." On 14 July 2017, the Supreme Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a probe into several extrajudicial killings in Manipur, including the case in which Kumar was implicated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, D. Sreeram Indian Army officers People from Tamil Nadu 1981 births Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration) People from Coimbatore Living people Sainik School alumni Ashoka Chakra