Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Sunil Kumar Choudhary (1980–2008) was an officer in the Gorkha regiment of the

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- ...

and belonged to the 7/

11 Gorkha Rifles The 11 Gorkha Rifles is a Gorkha regiment of the Indian Army that was re-raised after independence. The regiment consists of primarily the Kirant Tribes Rai, Limbu, Yakkha, Sunuwar of Eastern Nepal, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Dooars of West Benga ...

. Choudhary served for three years and was awarded with

Kirti Chakra The Kirti Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the field of battle. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, including posthumous awards. It is the ''pe ...

( posthumous) and Sena Medals.

Early life and education

Sunil Kumar Choudhary was born on 22 June 1980 in Kathua district in the Indian state of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. His father, P. L. Choudhary, also served in the Indian Army and held the rank of

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 ...

. Choudhary was educated in the

Kendriya Vidyalaya The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan () is a system of central government schools in India that are instituted under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,248 schools in India, and three abroad in Moscow ...

until

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

and then attained

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

from Garware College of Commerce in Pune. He then completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

course from

Savitribai Phule Pune University Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...

(Pune), India before joining the Indian army.

Army service

While Choudhary was completing his MBA his younger brother, Ankur Chaudhary, was selected in National Defence Academy and was undergoing his training in Khadakwasla. In the training academy there was a statue of Captain

Manoj Kumar Pandey Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey, Param Vir Chakra, PVC (25 June 1975 – 3 July 1999) was an officer of the Indian Army who was posthumously awarded India's highest military honour, the Param Vir Chakra, for his audacious courage and leadership dur ...

, who was posthumously awarded India's highest military honor Param Vir Chakra. Pandey was also in the

. Sunil Kumar Choudhary was inspired by Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey and dropped his MBA and joined the Indian Military Academy on 1 Jul 2003. After joining, he expressed a desire to be a part of 11 Gorkha Rifles. Upon passing out from the academy on 10 December 2004, Choudhary moved to Fort William,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and joined the Gorkha Rifles in February 2005. In May 2006, he was posted to

Tinsukia district Tinsukia district () is one of the 34 administrative districts in the state of Assam, India. The district headquarters is located at Tinsukia city. The district occupies an area of 3790 km2. Towns *Digboi *Doom Dooma, Doomdooma *Jagun *Kako ...

for

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

operations against the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Choudhary killed two commanders of ULFA. Due to his services in Assam, he was awarded the Sena Medal on 26 Jan 2008.

Death

On 27 January 2008 Choudhary was instructed to carry out an operation to encounter 7-9 ULFA militants who had taken shelter in two houses in the village Rangagarh. Choudhary led a team of three to attack the house with help from another attack team. He was shot in the chest by the militants but continued to fight and killed two militants. Choudhary died almost exactly 24 hours after he was awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry. Choudhary was awarded Kirti Chakra posthumously.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhary, Sunil Kumar 1980 births 2008 deaths Indian Army officers Recipients of the Kirti Chakra Kendriya Vidyalaya alumni Recipients of the Sena Medal Sena Medal People from Kathua district Kirti Chakra

Early life and education

Army service

Death

See also

References