Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), 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 colon ...

Vasanth Venugopal, AC (25 March 1967 – 31 July 2007) was an

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

officer. He was the

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of the 9th battalion,

Maratha Light Infantry The Maratha Light Infantry is a light infantry regiment of the Indian Army. It traces its lineage to the Bombay Sepoys, raised in 1768, making it the most senior light infantry regiment in the Indian Army. Recruitment The class composition o ...

. On 31 July 2007, he was killed while preventing heavily armed infiltrators from crossing the India-Pakistan border at

Uri Uri may refer to: Places * Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland * Úri, a village and commune in Hungary * Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India * Uri (island), off Malakula Island in V ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

. As a result he was posthumously awarded the

Ashoka Chakra The Ashoka Chakra (Transl: Ashoka's wheel) is an Indian symbol which is a depiction of the dharmachakra (English: "wheel of dharma"). It is so-called because it appears on a number of edicts of Ashoka the Great, most prominent among which is ...

, India's highest military decoration for peacetime gallantry.

Early life

Born to Praphulla and N.K. Venugopal in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Vasanth Venugopal was the youngest of two brothers. His father's work required the family to travel throughout the state of Karnataka and Vasanth went to schools in

Udupi Udupi () also known as 'Odipu' () is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of Udupi district, and one of the fastest-growing cities in Karnataka. Udupi is one of the top tourist attractions in Karnataka an ...

Shimoga Shimoga, officially Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the Karnataka state of India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region of the Western Ghats, the city ...

and Bangalore. He graduated from MES College, Bangalore in 1988. While in college, he was a member of the National Cadet Corps, through which he participated in the Indo-Canada World Youth Exchange Programme of 1986-87.

Military career

Venugopal started training at the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

in 1988. On 10 June 1989, he was commissioned into the 9th battalion of the

as a second lieutenant. He was promoted lieutenant on 10 June 1991 and to captain on 10 June 1994. On 14 January 2000, Venugopal was promoted major, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 16 December 2004. In a military career spanning eighteen years, he served in

Pathankot Pathankot () is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the sixth most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal ...

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar () is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the industrial corridor between the megacities of Delhi and Mumbai. Gandhinagar ...

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

and various sectors of

. "I go where my men go", he told his mother when she asked him if a colonel should participate in all operations conducted by his men. On 28 October 2006 he took over as the commanding officer of the 9th battalion, Maratha Light Infantry. The battalion was at that time posted in

. On 31 July 2007, he and his troops surrounded militants in a forest and blocked all their escape routes in the Uri sector in Kashmir. Despite being wounded, the colonel and his men engaged the terrorists in a fierce encounter. The daring officer led from the front and helped gun down the terrorists. He and radio operator L/Nk Bachhav Shashikant Ganpat were shot and died in hospital. "He ensured that all eight infiltrators were wiped out even as he laid down his life for the nation. He was a true soldier who was dedicated to the country and his force", Gen.

Joginder Jaswant Singh General Joginder Jaswant Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC (born 17 September 1945), commonly known as JJ Singh, is an Indian politician and former Army Chief. He was the 21st Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of the Indian Army. He was appointed o ...

, Chief of Army Staff at the time, said after Venugopal's death.

Honours and legacy

Col. Venugopal was cremated with full military honours on 1 August 2007 in

. He was posthumously awarded the

, the peacetime equivalent of the

Param Vir Chakra The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is India's highest Awards and Decorations of the Indian Armed Forces, military decoration, awarded for displaying distinguished acts of valour during wartime. Param Vir Chakra translates roughly as the "Wheel of Supre ...

, India's highest military decoration for gallantry awarded for the "most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice" other than in the face of the enemy. Colonel Vasanth is the first person from the state of

to have received this honour. Venugopal's biography ''Forever Forty'', written by his wife Subhashini Vasanth and Veena Prasad was released by Gen. Joginder Jaswant Singh and

Santosh Hegde Nitte Santosh Hegde (born 16 June 1940) is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, former Solicitor General of India and was Lokayukta (ombudsman) for Karnataka State of India from 2006 to 2011. Early life Santosh Hegde was born in a T ...

on 10 July 2011 at Crossword Bookstore, Bangalore. His daughter

Rukmini Vasanth Rukmini Vasanth (born 10 December 1996) is an Indian actress who works in Kannada films. She made her lead debut with ''Birbal'' (2019) Kannada Film. Rukmini got her major breakthrough in 2023 two part romantic drama '' Sapta Saagaradaache Ello' ...

is an actress.

References

External links

Rediff.com - A few good menVasantharatna Foundation for Art - A foundation run in Colonel Vasanth Venugopal's memory by his wife Mrs Subhashini Vasanth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venugopal, Vasanth Indian Army officers 1967 births 2007 deaths Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration) Ashoka Chakra Indian military personnel killed in action