A Colonel with the Army’s elite Para
Commando unit was on Tuesday killed in an encounter with militants in the
forests of Kupwara.
Colonel Santosh Mahadik, the commanding
officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, received injuries in a gunfight with militants
near the Line of Control. His parent unit is 21 Para, a special forces unit
that traces its roots to the Maratha regiment called Wagnakhas (tiger claws).
Wagnakhas were named so in tribute to the assassination of Afzal Khan, the Adil
Shahi dynasty general, by Shivaji the Great using a tiger claw that is now kept
in Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Colonel was airlifted to 15 Corps base hospital in Srinagar but succumbed to his injuries.Another soldier from the Territorial Army battalion was injured in the exchange of gunfire. The colonel had been
awarded the Sena Medal for displaying gallantry and leadership in Operation
Rhino, the counter-insurgency operation in Assam.
Col Mahadik, who
hailed from Satara in Maharashtra, is survived by his wife and two children,
aged 11 and four years.