Unsung Heroes

Of India

Unsung Heroes are the courageous people of our country who made a substantive yet unrecognised contribution for our motherland.

Their bravery is hardly revealed and their great deeds often remain unknown.

They are the real heroes who have climbed Mount Everest wit their selfless efforts.

Unsung Heroes

The Black Tiger: An Indian Spy

Ravindra Kaushik also known as the Black Tiger was the former RAW agent who was caught and jailed in Pakistan where he eventually died.

Ravindra Kaushik was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan on April 11,1952.

He was a famous theatre artist and displayed his talent at the national level dramatic meet in Lucknow.

The Life of Black Tiger in Pakistan

He was successful in getting admission in Karachi University and completed his LLB.

He joined Pakistan Army and became a commissioned officer and later was promoted to the rank of a Major.

He converted to Islam, married a local girl Amanat, and became father of a son who also died on 2012-2013.

From 1979 to 1983, while in military service, he passed on valuable information to RAW which was of great help to the Indian defence forces.

He was given the title of 'Black Tiger' by India's then home minister S.B. Chavan. Some testify that the title was conferred by then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

Udham Singh: The Direct descendent of Jalliawalla Bagh

Udham Singh was an Indian independence activist, best known for assassinating Michael O’Dwyer in March 1940 in what has been described as an avenging of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre.

Udham Singh changed his name to Ram Mohammad Singh Azad, symbolizing the unification of the three major religions of India: Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. Singh is considered one of the best-known of the more heroic revolutionaries of the Indian freedom struggle; he is also sometimes referred to as Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh.

Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh along with Chandrasekhar Azad, Rajguru and Sukhdev, were the more famous names out of scores of young firebrand freedom fighters in the early part of 20th-century India.

These young men believed their motherland would win her freedom only through the jolting up the sleeping British rulers. For their strong belief in display of courage to achieve India’s freedom, a nervous England labelled these men as “India’s earliest Marxists”.

In 1940, almost 21 years after the Amritsar Massacre of 1919 in Punjab province of India, Singh shot the unsuspecting 75-year-old Michael O’Dwyer while he was attending a lecture meet at Caxton Hall in London. O’Dwyer had been Governor of the Punjab in 1919, when Brigadier General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer mercilessly ordered British troops to fire on a congregation of unarmed Indian who had gathered at the Jallianwalla Bagh on the holy day of Baisakhi, who included Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and Christians.

Early Life of Udham Singh

• Sher Singh Jammu was born in Sunam in the Sangrur district of Punjab to a Sikh farming family headed by Sardar Tehal Singh (known as Chuhar Singh before taking the Amrit). Udham Singh belonged to Kamboj lineage. 

• Sardar Tehal Singh was at that time working as a watchman on a railway crossing in the neighbouring village of Upall.

• Sher Singh’s mother died in 1901. His father followed in 1907.• With the help of Bhai Kishan Singh Ragi, both Sher Singh and his elder

brother, Mukta Singh, were taken in by the Central Khalsa Orphanage Putlighar in Amritsar on October 24, 1907.

• They were administered the Sikh initiatory rites at the orphanage and received new names: Sher Singh became Udham Singh, and Mukta Singh became Sadhu Singh.

• Sadhu Singh died in 1917, which came as a great shock to his brother. While at orphanage, Udham Singh was trained in various arts and crafts.

• He passed his matriculation examination in 1918 and left the orphanage in 1919.

CAPTAIN VIKRAM BATRA13 JAMMU AND KASHMIR RIFLES (IC57556)

During ‘Operation Vijay’, on 20 June 1999, Captain Vikram Batra, Commander Delta Company was tasked to attack Point 5140. Batra with his company skirted around the feature from the East and maintaining surprise reached within assaulting distance of the enemy.

Captain Batra reorganized his column and motivated his men to physically assault the enemy positions. Leading from the front, he in a daredevil assault, pounced on the enemy and killed four of them in a hand-to hand fight. On 7 July 1999, in another operation in the area Pt 4875, his company was tasked to clear a narrow feature with sharp cuttings on either side and heavily fortified enemy defences that covered the only approach to it. For speedy operation, Captain Batra assaulted the enemy position along a narrow ridge and engaged the enemy in a fierce hand –to-hand fight and killed five enemy soldiers at point blank range.

Despite sustaining grave injuries, he crawled towards the enemy and hurled grenades clearing the position with utter disregard to his personal safety, leading from the front, he rallied his men and pressed on the attack and achieved a near impossible military task in the face of heavy enemy fire.

The officer, however, succumbed to his injuries. Inspired by his daredevil act, his troops fell upon the enemy with vengeance, annihilated them and captured Point 4875.

Captain Vikram Batra, thus, displayed the most conspicuous personal bravery and leadership of the highest order in the face of the enemy and made the supreme sacrifice in the highest traditions of the Indian Army. posthumously awarded with the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest and prestigious award for valour

Early Life and Illustrous Career Vikram Batra was born on 9 September 1974 in Ghuggar village

near Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, to G.L. Batra and Jai Kamal Batra.

He got his primary education from his mother, who herself is a teacher. He received his education up to Middle Standard at the D.A.V. Public School in Palampur and up to senior secondary stage in Central School, Palampur.

After passing his 10+2 in 1992 from Central School Palampur, he got admitted in D.A.V. College, Chandigarh in B.Sc where he was adjudged the best N.C.C. Cadet (Air Wing) in two zones.

Later, he was selected to join the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun in 1996 in Jessore company of Manekshaw Battalion, and was commissioned in the Indian Army as a Lieutenant of the 13 Jammu & Kashmir Rifles at Sopore, in Jammu and Kashmir. He rose to the rank of Captain.

MAJOR SANDEEP UNNIKRISHNAN

Sandeep Unnikrishnan (15 March 1977 – 28 November 2008) was an officer in the Indian Army serving in the elite Special Action Group of the National Security Guards.

He was killed in action during the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

He was consequently awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peace time gallantry award, on 26 January 2009.

He is known for operation Black Tornado

OPERATION BLACK TORNADO On the night of 26 November 2008, several iconic buildings in South

Mumbai were attacked during 26/11. One of the buildings where hostage were held was the 100-year old Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

Unnikrishnan was the team commander of 51 SAG deployed in the operation at the hotel to rescue the hostages. He entered the hotel in a group of 10 commandos and reached the sixth floor through the staircase. As the team descended the stairs, they suspected perpetrators on the third floor.

A few women were held as hostages in a room which was locked from the inside. After breaking open the door, the round of fire by the perpetrators hit Commando Sunil Yadav, who was Unnikrishnan's colleague.

Unnikrishan engaged the perpetrators in a firefight. He arranged for Yadav's evacuation and gave chase to those he had engaged in the firefight who, meanwhile, escaped to another floor of the hotel. In the encounter that followed, he was shot from the back before later succumbing to his injuries

His last words were, "Do not come up, I will handle them," according to NSG officials.

THANK YOUA PRESENTATION BY DIVESH HARPALANI AND JAY PUROHIT