Lt Navdeep Singh led a commando platoon of 15 Maratha Light Infantry against infiltrators in the Gurez sector in August 2011 and killed four men.
Ambush in the Kanzalwan sub-sector
On the night of 19 August 2011, Lieutenant Navdeep Singh took the commando platoon of 15 Maratha Light Infantry to the Kanzalwan sub-sector in Gurez, north Kashmir. Intelligence had warned that a large group of terrorists was preparing to cross the Line of Control there.
The fight began in the early hours of 20 August. Published accounts say Singh killed three of the infiltrators at close range and was severely wounded. He then killed a fourth, saving one of his own men, before he died. His team is reported to have killed twelve in all.
Five months in uniform
Singh was commissioned into the Army Ordnance Corps on 19 March 2011 and was attached to 15 Maratha Light Infantry for his first posting, so the action came about five months after he took his commission. Born in Gurdaspur in 1985, he was a third-generation soldier.
President Pratibha Patil conferred the Ashoka Chakra at the start of the 63rd Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on 26 January 2012. His father, Subedar Major and Honorary Lieutenant (Retd.) Joginder Singh, received it; some reports give the father's retired rank as Honorary Captain.
What the citation recorded
The official citation text could not be read for this article, as the government gallantry awards portal was unreachable. This is a summary, not the citation. Published accounts record that Lieutenant Navdeep Singh led the commando platoon of 15 Maratha Light Infantry in an ambush against terrorists infiltrating across the Line of Control in the Gurez sector in August 2011. He killed three at close range and, though severely wounded, killed a fourth to save one of his soldiers before he died.