Shaurya Chakra For 21 Para SF Officer Confirms Indian Military Strike In Myanmar That Army Had Earlier Denied

The conferment of the Shaurya Chakra on Lieutenant Colonel Ghatage Aditya Shrikumar of 21 Para (Special Forces) has confirmed an operation along the Indo-Myanmar border that was widely known but officially denied by the Army at the time.

Approved by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of Republic Day 2026, the award recognises Lt Col Shrikumar’s role in planning and personally leading a precision strike between 11 and 13 July 2025 that eliminated senior leadership of a militant group, army sources said.

The Shaurya Chakra is India’s third-highest peacetime gallantry award.

The operation, reports say, resulted in the destruction of a fortified militant camp and the elimination of nine armed cadres, including top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I).

While the Army had denied carrying out any cross-border strike last July, ULFA-I later claimed that its eastern headquarters in Myanmar had been targeted.

At the time, ULFA-I had said that its top commander, Nayan Medhi (also known as Nayan Asom), had been killed, and that further strikes during his last rites also killed Ganesh Asom and Pradip Asom.

While Nayan Medhi had assumed the title of lieutenant general within the outfit, Ganesh Asom was a senior commander, and Pradip Asom held a key operational role.

On the same occasion, President Murmu also approved the Kirti Chakra for Major Arshdeep Singh of 1 Assam Rifles. He was decorated for gallantry during a patrol along the Indo-Myanmar border on 14 May 2025, when his team came under sudden fire from a dominating height.

Despite intense enemy fire, Major Singh led an assault that neutralised multiple armed cadres, ensuring no casualties among his troops.

It is not yet clear whether the May incident led to the subsequent July operation.