Lieutenant Colonel Sankalp Kumar has belonged to 24 Punjab Regiment, was the only son of his parents. At the time of his supreme sacrifice, Lt Col Kumar was only 35-year-old and had two daughters aged nine and two years. Whenever he would come back home, Lieutenant Colonel Sankalp made sure that he spent valuable time with the family. Lieutenant Colonel Sankalp’s parents admired their son’s responsibility towards everything, be it the nation, the family or a stranger on the streets.
Lieutenant Colonel Sankalp Kumar always led from the front. The bullets he faced in his earlier encounter with terrorists in 2004 emboldened his spirits to fight the militants in 2014 too.

Uri Operation: 05 Dec 2014

On 05 December 2014, Lt Col Sankalp Kumar was leading a column as part of the operation launched to neutralize the Fidayeen attack on the army camp of 31 Field Regiment at Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. The army camp was located about 12 Kms from Uri town. At 0545 hours, he established stops around the western side of Mahura Gun Area wherein six terrorists had sneaked inside and caused casualties to five other Ranks. At 0550 hours Lt Col Sankalp Kumar along with Hav Subhash Chand and Lance Naik Gurmail Singh came under effective fire. The officer retaliated immediately pinning down the terrorists.

Thereafter, terrorists lobbed grenades and fired a volley of burst grievously injuring Lt Col Sankalp Kumar. With utter disregard for his personal safety, Lieutenant Colonel Sankalp Kumar continued to engage the terrorists who intended to cause more casualties to own troops. Lieutenant Colonel Sankalp Kumar successfully pinned down the terrorist with effective fire, thereby resulting in his subsequent elimination. However, Lt Col Sankalp Kumar got severely injured during the operation and was martyred.

Lieutenant Colonel Sankalp Kumar was awarded “Shaurya Chakra” for his gallantry, devotion to duty and supreme sacrifice. Lieutenant Colonel Sankalp Kumar is survived by his wife, Priya Shukla and two daughters Manna and Shanna.

Source:https://www.honourpoint.in/