NEW DELHI: Galwan valley clash hero Colonel Santosh Babu was awarded Mahavir Chakra posthumously by President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday.
Late Colonel’s mother and wife received the award from the President. Santosh Babu is survived by his wife Santoshi, nine-year-old daughter Abhigna and four-year-old son Anirudh.
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Santosh Babu was the Commanding Officer of the 16 Bihar Regiment.
The Colonel and 19 other Indian soldiers of the 16 Bihar Regiment were killed in violent clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020.
He was awarded the gallantry medal for resisting the Chinese attack while establishing an observation post in the face of the enemy in Ladakh’s Galwan valley during the ongoing Operation Snow Leopard.
Colonel Santosh Babu bravely resisted the Chinese attack at Galwan Valley despite being fatally injured.
Santosh Babu, an alumni of Sainik School Korukonda and National Defence Academy, was posted at the Indo-China border for one-and-a-half years, and his family was expecting him to get a transfer to Hyderabad.
He got commissioned into the Bihar Regiment from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun and completed the Defence Service Staff Course from Wellington before taking the charge as Commanding Officer of the 16 Bihar Regiment.