Nawang Kapadia
| Lieutenant Nawang Kapadia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
December 15, 1975 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Died |
November 11, 2000 (aged 24) Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir, India |
| Service/branch | Indian Army |
| Years of service | 3 months |
| Unit | 3 Gorkha Rifles |
Lieutenant Nawang H. Kapadia (15 December 1975 — 11 November 2000), was an Indian Army officer who died fighting Pakistani terrorists in the jungles of Rajwar in Kupwara district, Jammu and Kashmir on 11 November 2000.
Personal life
His parents are mountaineers Geeta and Harish Kapadia. From his early childhood, Nawang had imbibed the adventurous talents of his parents, both of whom were famous in their own right. Siblings Sonam and Nawang were named after Sherpa mountaineers; both are Gurkha names: Nawang means "leader of men." Nawang did his initial schooling at New Era School and subsequently at the St. Xavier’s Boys’ Academy. He studied for and received his Bachelor of Commerce from Jai Hind college in Mumbai.
Army career
The 24-year old Mumbai-born Kapadia enlisted in the Officers Training Academy at Chennai in 1999. He commissioned into the 4th battalion, 3 Gorkha Rifles on 2 September 2000 as a lieutenant. Kapadia proceeded to the Regimental Centre at Varanasi from which he joined his battalion on October 29, 2000. During this period the battalion was involved in operations against foreign terrorists who had infiltrated and were in the process of establishing their bases in the Kupwara area of Jammu and Kashmir.
Counter Terrorism Operation
On November 10 2000 his battalion, 4/3 Gorkha Rifles, received information of a large number of terrorists hiding in the jungles of Rajwar near Kupwara. Search and destroy operations were immediately launched with Lt. Kapadia leading his own platoon. At approximately 1100 hours, a large hideout was discovered by the battalion and the platoon came under fire from a group of eight to ten terrorists. Havaldar Chitra Bahadur was mortally wounded and Kapadia rushed to rescue him under the covering fire of his troops. A terrorist who was hiding in the nearby foliage fired at Kapadia, hitting him in the face and killing him.
The encounter resulted in the deaths of two terrorists of the Al Omar Tanzeem, a Pakistan-based organization, with reports of two others grievously wounded and likely to have died. Large quantities of arms and ammunition were recovered, with the firefight itself lasting over 36 hours. The terrorists who killed Kapadia were later killed by the same unit. They were ethnic Pathans from Pakistan.