Naik Rambeer Singh Tomar, 15 Kumaon serving with 26 Rashtriya Rifles, went first into a house in Doda district on 18 October 2001.
Into the house at Kako
By about 0930 hours on 18 October 2001, soldiers had been exchanging fire for nearly two hours with men inside a house at Kako village in Doda district. Naik Rambeer Singh Tomar of 26 Rashtriya Rifles volunteered to go in first.
He threw a grenade, went in and shot two men. A third charged him. Tomar overpowered him hand to hand and shot him. He sensed a fourth in the adjoining room, close to his buddy, and went through. The man shot him below the left eye. Tomar threw a grenade and killed him. He died while being evacuated.
Prempura and 15 Kumaon
Tomar was born on 15 August 1970 at Prempura village in Morena district, Madhya Pradesh. His father, Honorary Captain Rajendra Singh Tomar, served in 15 Kumaon. Rambeer enlisted in the same battalion on 28 July 1989 and went on deputation to 26 Rashtriya Rifles, which was deployed on counter-insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. Records differ on his final rank: the award list and citation say Naik, while a memorial profile's header says Lance Naik. Sources also place the start of the operation on either 17 or 18 October. The award was recorded in 2002.
What the citation recorded
Summary, not the official text: the citation as published by a memorial site records that at about 0930 hours on 18 October 2001, after some two hours of firing at Kako village in Doda district, he volunteered to enter the house first. He killed four men inside, the last after being shot below the left eye, and died during evacuation.