Lt Col Shanti Swarup Rana was born on 17th September 1949. He hailed from village Badla of Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. He initially joined the Army in the Corps of Signals and was later selected for the Army Cadet College, Dehra Dun. After completing his training, he was commissioned into 3 Bihar on 11th July 1977.
| Service Number | IC-34425 |
| Place of Birth | Punjab |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit | 13 Rashtriya Rifles |
| Regiment | Bihar Regiment |
| Award | Ashok Chakra |
| Date of Martyrdom | 2nd November 1996 |
On 2nd November 1996, Lt Col Rana was assigned the task of destroying two terrorist camps in the Hafurda forest of Kupwara district in J&K. Lt Col Rana spotted four well-fortified hideouts stocked heavily with arms & ammunition including 800 kg of explosives. He and his men crawled towards the bunker and threw hand grenades and destroyed the hideouts. During this action, the terrorists resorted to heavy firing from their well-fortified bunkers. Lt Col Rana organized his troops, crawled towards the bunker, and threw hand grenades inside. When two foreign mercenaries emerged firing indiscriminately, Lt Col Rana killed both of them. Meanwhile, the terrorists seriously injured Lt Col Rana in heavy firing from another location. When a terrorist advanced towards the soldiers, Lt Col Rana charged and killed him. However, during this process, the gallant officer suffered more injuries and made the supreme sacrifice.
Lt Col Rana was given the nation’s highest peacetime gallantry award, ‘Ashok Chakra’ posthumously.
