Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan was born on 15 March 1977 in Kozhikode, Kerala. Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan came from a Nair family residing in Bangalore, where they had moved from Cheruvannur, in Kozhikode District of Kerala. He was the only son of retired ISRO officer K. Unnikrishnan and Dhanalakshmi Unnikrishnan. Major Unnikrishnan spent 14 years at the Frank Anthony Public School in Bangalore before graduating in 1995 in the Science stream. He wanted to join the Army, right from his school days and did well in school activities and sports events. He was also a member of the school choir and enjoyed watching movies.

Major Unnikrishnan joined the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune, Maharashtra in 1995 and was a graduate of the 94th Course of NDA. His NDA friends remember him as “selfless”, “generous” and “calm and composed”. He was commissioned as a lieutenant to the 7th Battalion of the Bihar Regiment (Infantry) on 12 July 1999. After serving the Indian Army in different locations in Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan during counter insurgencies for two terms, he was selected to join the National Security Guards. On completion of training, he was assigned to the Special Action Group (SAG) of NSG in January 2007 and participated in various operations of the NSG. During the ‘Ghatak course’ (at the Commando Wing (Infantry School), Belgaum), the most difficult course of the Army, Unnikrishnan topped the course, earning an “Instructor Grading” and commendation. He opted for the NSG commando service which he joined on deputation in 2006.

Operation Black Tornado : Nov 2008

On the night of 26 November 2008, several iconic buildings in South Mumbai were attacked. One of the buildings where hostages were held was the 100-year-old Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Major Unnikrishnan was the team commander of 51 Special Action Group (51 SAG) deployed in the operation at the hotel to rescue the hostages. He entered the hotel with a group of 10 commandos and reached the sixth floor through the staircase. As the team descended the stairs, they suspected perpetrators on the third floor. A few women were held as hostages in a room which was locked from the inside.

The team decided to break open the door and when it was done the team faced barrage of fire from the terrorists. The rounds of fire by the perpetrators hit Commando Sunil Yadav, who was Major Unnikrishnan’s colleague. Major Unnikrishnan engaged the perpetrators in a firefight and arranged for Yadav’s evacuation. Later Major Unnikrishnan gave a chase to the terrorists who had escaped to another floor of the hotel. In the encounter that followed, he was shot from the back which proved fatal. His last words, according to NSG officials were, “Do not come up, I will handle them” . His exceptional courage and leadership motivated his comrades to eliminate all the terrorists and complete the assigned mission successfully.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan was given the nation’s highest peacetime gallantry award “Ashok Chakra” for his outstanding courage, unyielding fighting spirit and supreme sacrifice. Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan is survived by his father K. Unnikrishnan and mother Dhanalakshmi Unnikrishnan.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemant_Karkare