Col Vasanth Venugopal, commanding 9 Maratha Light Infantry, was killed near Uri on 31 July 2007 intercepting terrorists at the Line of Control.
Blocking the way back across the LoC
On 31 July 2007, a group of terrorists tried to escape back across the Line of Control in the Uri sector. Colonel Vasanth Venugopal, commanding officer of 9 Maratha Light Infantry, personally took command of a body of troops to intercept them, moved round their flank and killed one at close quarters.
He was wounded. According to the Press Information Bureau, he told his men to block all escape routes and killed two more before he died of his wounds. Eight foreign terrorists were killed in the operation by his group. Captain Abhinav Handa took charge after he fell, and the group killed four more, one by Handa himself. Handa received the Kirti Chakra.
From Bangalore to Uri
Venugopal was born in Bangalore, and his schooling took him through towns across Karnataka as his father worked for the LIC. He graduated from MES College, Bangalore, and had attended a Republic Day parade as an NCC cadet. He went to the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, and took over command of his battalion in October 2006. His wife, Subhashini, is a Bharatanatyam dancer. The Press Information Bureau records that a conversation between them in 1997 led to The Silent Front, an organisation for the widows of soldiers. She received his Ashoka Chakra on 26 January 2008.
Official text from the Press Information Bureau
Col Vasanth Venugopal was the commanding officer of his battalion deployed along the Line of Control in Uri Sector of J&K. On 31 July, 2007, he personally took command of a body of troops to intercept a group of terrorists who were attempting to escape back across the Line of Control. Out flanking the terrorists, Col Vasanth engaged them from close quarter, killing one of them. However, he himself was injured in this action. Unmindful of this, he exhorted his men to block all escape routes of the terrorists and killed two more terrorists before succumbing to his wounds. A total of eight foreign terrorists were killed in this operation by his group. Earlier in the same general area, he had led an operation from 27 to 30 June, 2007 in which his battalion had eliminated four terrorists.
Source: Press Information Bureau release. Reproduced as printed, including any errors in the original.