President Droupadi Murmu conferred 51 gallantry awards on personnel of the Defence Forces, Central Armed Police Forces and State and Union Territory Police during Phase-I of the Defence Investiture Ceremony 2026 held at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Monday, 8 June.
The awards included 7 Kirti Chakras, including 2 posthumous; 15 Vir Chakras, including 3 posthumous; and 29 Shaurya Chakras, including 1 posthumous.
The Ministry of Defence said the awards were given for “raw courage, unparalleled bravery and total disregard to personal safety in the line of duty.”
The awards recognised personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force and forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs, including those from the Para Special Forces, Rashtriya Rifles, Assam Rifles, CRPF and other formations.
The list of awardees, in the order of presentation, is as follows:
Shaurya Chakra
Inspector Laxman Kewat and Inspector Rameshwar Prasad Deshmukh – MHA
Lieutenant Colonel Neetesh Bharti Shukla, 19 Sikh – Army
Major Aditya Pratap Singh, The Rajputana Rifles, 44 Assam Rifles – Army
Major Ashish Kumar, 7 Para (Special Forces) – Army
Constable/GD Sanjay Tiwari and Constable/GD Feda Hussain Dar – MHA
Assistant Commandant, now Deputy Commandant, Mohd Shafiq, 26 Assam Rifles – Army
Lieutenant Commander Suraj Prashar – Navy
Ram Goyal, Sea II, now LS – Navy
Constable/GD Saddam Hussain, CRPF – MHA
Assistant Commandant Vipin Wilson, 20 Bn, CRPF – MHA
Rifleman Bhoj Ram Sahu, 3 Assam Rifles – Army
Wing Commander, now Group Captain, Abhimanyu Singh, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Major Bhargav Kalita, The Kumaon Regiment, 50 Rashtriya Rifles – Army
Major Leishangthem Deepak Singh, 11 Para (SF) – Army
Major Anshul Baltoo, JAK LI, 32 Assam Rif – Army
Major Shivkant Yadav, 5 Para (SF) – Army
Subedar P H Moses, 1 Assam Rif – Army
Major Vivek, Mech Inf, 42 RR – Army
Rifleman Manglem Sang Vaiphei, 3 Assam Rif – Army
Lieutenant Colonel Ghatage Aditya Shrikumar, 21 Para (SF) – Army
Captain Yogender Singh Thakur, 6 Para (SF) – Army
Subedar Shamsher Singh, 4 Para (Special Forces) – Army
Lance Naik, now Naik, Rahul Singh, 4 Para (Special Forces) – Army
Rifleman Dhurba Jyoti Dutta, 33 Assam Rif – Army
Lieutenant Commander Dilna K and Lieutenant Commander Roopa A – Navy
Vir Chakra
Colonel Koshank Lamba, 302 Medium Regiment – Army
Group Captain Ranjeet Singh Sidhu, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Group Captain Manish Arora, SC, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Group Captain Animesh Patni, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Group Captain Kunal Kalra, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Wing Commander, now Group Captain, Joy Chandra, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Lieutenant Colonel Sushil Bisht, 1988 Independent Medium Battery – Army
Squadron Leader, now Wing Commander, Sarthak Kumar, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Squadron Leader Siddhant Singh, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Squadron Leader Rizwan Malik, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Flight Lieutenant, now Squadron Leader, Aarshveer Singh Thakur, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Naib Subedar Satish Kumar, 4 Dogra – Army
Kirti Chakra
Lance Naik Meenatchi Sundaram A, The Regiment of Artillery, 34 Rashtriya Rifles – Army
Naib Subedar Doleshwar Subba, 2 Para (SF) – Army
Major Arshdeep Singh, Armd, 1 Assam Rifles – Army
Air Commodore Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Flying Pilot – Air Force
Captain Lalrinawma Sailo, 4 Para (Special Forces) – Army
Shaurya Chakra Posthumous
L/DFR Baldev Chand, Armd, 4 RR – Army
Vir Chakra Posthumous
Sub Inspector (GD) Mohd Imteyaj and CT/GD Deepak Chingakham – MHA
Rifleman Sunil Kumar, 4 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry – Army
Kirti Chakra Posthumous
Sepoy Janjal Pravin Prabhakar, The Mahar Regiment, 1 Rashtriya Rifles – Army
Lieutenant Shashank Tiwari, The Army Service Corps, 1 Sikkim Scouts – Army
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