Service No : IC-34425

Date of Birth : 17 Sep 1949

Birth place: Hoshiarpur, Punjab

Service: Army

Last Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

Unit: 13 Rashtriya Rifles

Arm/Regt : The Bihar Regiment

Awards: Ashok Chakra

Date of Martyrdom : 02 Nov , 1996

Lt Col Shanti Swarup Rana AC

Lt Col Shanti Swarup Rana, was born on 17 September 1949 in village Badla of Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. Youngest among his four brothers and three sisters, Lt Col Rana had his early education in a Govt School in Rampur, in Hoshiarpur district. He was among the best students of his class and was very popular with his classmates owing to his kind and affectionate nature.

 

As Lt Col Rana grew older, his passion for Army also grew. He initially joined the Army in the Corps of Signals and was later  selected for the Army Cadet College, Dehra Dun. After  completing his training, he was commissioned into 3 Bihar on 11 July 1977. A veteran of Operation Rhino, Operation Pawan and Operation Rakshak he became second-in-command of the 13 Rashtriya Rifles, after being promoted to the rank of Lt Col in 1994.

 

Hafurda Forest Operation : 02 Nov  1996

 

On 02 Nov 1996, Lt Col Rana was entrusted with the task of destroying two terrorist camps in the Hafurda forest of Kupwara district in Jammu & Kashmir. Lt Col Rana spotted four well-fortified hideouts stocked heavily with arms & ammunition including 800 kg of explosives. In a gallant & swift strike he, with his troops, crawled towards the bunker and threw hand grenades and destroyed the hideouts.

 

Subsequently one more hideout was noticed by the troops. During the action that followed, the terrorists resorted to heavy firing from their well fortified bunkers.  Lt Col Rana organized his troops, crawled towards the bunker and threw hand grenades inside. When two foreign mercenaries emerged firing indiscriminately,  Lt Col Rana showed exceptional courage and killed both of them.

 

Meanwhile the terrorists seriously injured  Lt Col Rana in heavy firing from another location. In spite of this, the gallant officer kept on boosting the morale of his soldiers. When one more terrorist advanced towards the soldiers,  Lt Col Rana, without caring for his own life, charged and killed him in a face-to-face encounter. However during this process , the gallant officer suffered more injuries and made the supreme sacrifice.

 

 Lt Col Rana  was given the nation’s highest peace time gallantry award, “Ashok Chakra” (posthumous) for his exceptional bravery , indomitable spirit, leadership and supreme sacrifice.

The citation for Ashok Chakra awarded to Lt Col Shanti Swarup Rana reads –

On 2 November 1996, Lt Col Swarup Rana while serving with 13 Rashtriya Rifles was entrusted with the task of destroying two terrorist camps in the Hafurda forest of Kupwara District in Jammu & Kashmir. He spotted four well fortified hideouts stocked heavily with arms and ammunition including tonnes of explosives. In a gallant and swift strike, he destroyed these hideouts. One more well concealed hideout came to his notice. During the action that followed, the terrorists resorted to heavy firing from their well fortified bunker. Lt Col Rana organised his troops, crawled towards the bunker and threw hand grenades inside. Two foreign mercenaries came out firing heavily. He killed both of them instantaneously.

Meanwhile, the terrorists seriously injured Lt Col Rana in heavy firing from another location. In spite of this, the gallant officer kept on boosting the morale of his soldiers. When one more terrorist advanced towards the soldiers, Lt Col Rana without caring for this own life, charged and killed him in a hand-to-hand encounter. In this action, this gallant officer sustained fatal bullet injuries and made the supreme sacrifice. Lt Col Rana displayed indomitable courage, patriotism and gallantry of the highest order. For this act of indomitable courage, Lt Col SS Rana was awarded the Ashoka Chakra posthumously.

Profile Maintenance

This profile is currently being maintained by Honourpoint.in. However, we would invite the family members, unit/formation or former colleagues of this brave soldier to contribute additional information and maintain this memorial site as well, thereby assisting us in our endeavour to spread awareness about this great Indian and inspire future generations.

Contribute
  • If you find any information that is incorrect or inappropriate or have additional information about the soldier that can be added to his memorial site, please contact us by using the tab given below.
    
    
    
Source
  • http://indianstrategicknowledgeonline.com/web/The%20Rashtriya%20Rifles.html
  • http://wikivisually.com/wiki/Shanti_Swaroop_Rana
  • http://creative.sulekha.com/the-heavy-price-india-as-a-country-paying-for-kashmir_184458_blog
  • https://plus.google.com/+FlagsofHonourIN/posts/RNou3ejsxAD
Disclaimer

Honourpoint.intakes utmost precaution towards factual correctness of the uploaded data and makes sure that the data is from a credible source. However, we do not take responsibility for authenticity of the content and Honourpoint.inor any of its members cannot be held responsible for any misappropriation of the uploaded content.

7 Comments
  • Shruthi Rana

    2017 at 1:08 pm Reply

    Your story is truly inspirational. My salute to you and your family.

    • BALJEET SINGH JONJUA

      2020 at 5:03 am

      Shruti, you may know – Does your parental family belong to the Janjua Rajput tree?

  • Divya Nair

    2017 at 11:30 am Reply

    Every Indian is proud of you sir.. My deepest salute to you..Jai Hind..!

  • Aishwarya

    2017 at 11:12 am Reply

    I Salute to the great sacrifice of the martyr Lt Col Shanti Swarup Rana..You remain in our heart..Jai Hind…!

  • anil

    2018 at 2:08 pm Reply

    Then I am in 13 RR with Rana Sahib. Once again salute to our 2IC

  • Abhinav Sharma

    2018 at 10:59 pm Reply

    I still remember that day..his daughter was my junior in school..

  • Sarth rana

    2021 at 9:19 pm Reply

    Will we never forget your sacrifice?

Post a Reply to anil Cancel Reply