Lance Naik Bhupendra Singh

Lance Naik Bhupendra Singh hailed from Tajpur Ada village in the Etah district of Uttar Pradesh. Son of an Army veteran Surendra Singh Rathore, L/Nk Bhupendra Singh had a younger brother Rajan as his sibling. He wanted to serve in the Armed Forces since his childhood like his father and grandfather who too served in the Army making L/Nk Bhupendra Singh a third-generation soldier. He eventually joined the Army after completing his school education in the year 2014 at the age of 19 years. He was recruited into 25 Grenadiers of the Grenadiers Regiment, an infantry Regiment known for its brave soldiers with a rich history of various battle honours. After serving for around three years, he got married with Ms Sarika in the year 2017 and the couple was blessed with a daughter. 

Army Convoy Accident (Sikkim): 23 Dec 2022

During Dec 2022, L/Nk Bhupendra Singh's unit 25 Grenadiers battalion, was deployed in Sikkim near the Indo-China border. The AOR(Area of Responsibility) of the unit spanned over remote rugged mountainous terrain with extreme weather conditions, especially in the winter season. The troops were deployed on various forward posts and often undertook patrol to monitor the area in between the manned posts. Also, heavy snowfall often blocked the roads and hampered the movement of troops which necessitated frequent clearance operations. The mountainous roads in the AOR of the unit were narrow and had steep gradients posing serious challenges to the quick movement of troops. L/Nk Bhupendra Singh and his comrades were tasked for an operation on 23 Dec 2022 and had to move by road to the operational area.

As planned the three-vehicle convoy set off in the morning of 23 Dec from Chatten to reach Thangu. Besides 25 Grenadiers, the soldiers travelling in the convoy belonged to various other units which included, 285 Med Regt, 221 Fd Regt, 26 Mech Inf, 8 Raj Rif, 113 Engr Regt and 1871 Fd Regt.  As the vehicle carrying L/Nk Bhupendra Singh and 19 other soldiers was on its way, it skidded down a steep slope at Zema in North Sikkim while negotiating a sharp turn.  As the vehicle fell into a deep gorge, it got mangled beyond recognition due to the severe impact. As a result, all 20 soldiers got severely injured. The Army quickly launched the rescue operation and the injured soldiers were transferred to a field hospital,  However, L/Nk Bhupendra Singh and fifteen other soldiers succumbed to their injuries and were martyred.

Besides L/Nk Bhupendra Singh, the other martyred soldiers included Nb Sub Omkar Singh (285 Med Regt), Nb Sub Chandan Kumar Mishra (285 Med Regt),  L/Hav Gopinath Makur (26 Mech Inf), Hav Charan Singh (26 Mech Inf), Sep Sukha Ram (26 Mech Inf), Nk Ravinder Thapa (26 Mech Inf), Nk Vaisakh S (221 Fd Regt), Nk Pramod Kumar Singh(221 Fd Regt), Nk Shyam Singh Yadav (25 Grenadiers), Nk Lokesh Kumar (25 Grenadiers), Gdr Vikash (25 Grenadiers), Sub Guman Singh (8 Raj Rif), L/Hav Arvind Kumar (8 Raj Rif), L/Nk Somvir Singh (113 Engr Regt), and L/Nk Manoj Kumar(1871 Fd Regt). L/Nk Bhupendra Singh was a valiant and dedicated soldier, who laid down his life in the line of his duty.

L/Nk Bhupendra Singh is survived by his father Shri Surendra Singh Rathore, mother, wife Smt Sarika, daughter and brother Shri Rajan Singh.