Naik Sandeep Kumar Pal

Naik Sandeep Kumar Pal hailed from Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand. Son of Shri Jayanandan Kumar Pal, Naik Sandeep Pal had two brothers and two sisters as his siblings. He came from a family with very modest means and saw poverty from close quarters during his growing up years. He joined the army in the year 2013 after completing his school education. He was recruited into the 22 MLI battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment, an infantry regiment well known for its gallant soldiers and a number of battle honours. After completing his training, he served in various operational areas and developed into a fine soldier with admirable soldierly skills. By 2022, he had been promoted to the rank of Naik and by then had gathered substantial field experience.

 Ladakh Vehicle Accident: 27 May 2022

During May 2022, Naik Sandeep Kumar Pal's unit was deployed in the Turtuk sector in the Ladakh area of Kashmir. The AOR(Area of Responsibility) of the unit spanned over remote rugged mountainous terrain with extreme weather conditions, especially in the winter season. The unit troops were deployed on various forward posts and often undertook patrol to monitor the area in between the manned posts. The soldiers joining the unit on posting or returning from leave had to acclimatize in phases at transit centers before joining owing to extreme weather conditions. on 27 May 2022, Nk Sandeep Kumar Pal and 25 other soldiers were required to go from the transit camp in Partapur near Siachen to a forward location in Sub Sector Hanif.

As the vehicle carrying Nk Sandeep Kumar Pal and 25 other soldiers was on its way, it skidded off the road and fell into Shyok River. The vehicle plummeted to a depth of 50-60 feet. injuring all the soldiers. The Army launched the rescue operation and the injured soldiers were transferred to a field hospital at Partapur, where Army surgical teams were dispatched from Leh. However Nk Sandeep Kumar Pal and six other soldiers succumbed to their injuries and were martyred. The other 19 soldiers were air-lifted and moved through Green Corridor in Chandigarh for treatment at Command Hospital. Besides Nk Sandeep Kumar Pal the other martyred soldiers included Sub Vijayrao Shinde from the Satara district of Maharashtra. Nb Sub Gurudayal Sahu from Betul in Madhya Pradesh, Naik Ramanuj Kumar from Patna in Bihar, Naik Jadhav Prashant Shivaji from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, Lance Naik Bappaditya Khutia from Pashchim Mednipur in West Bengal and L/Hav Mohd Shaijal T from  Malappuram in Kerala. Naik Sandeep Kumar Pal was a gallant and committed soldier who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of his duty.

Naik Sandeep Kumar Pal is survived by his father Shri Jayanandan Kumar Pal,  brother Shri Manish Kumar and two married sisters.