Taj siege hero will miss NSG

It’s 26/11 again, but this time Sunil Kumar Yadav is hanging up his commando boots to return to his parent regiment 9-Para SF of the Indian Army today, reports Sanjeev K Ahuja.

Last year, on 26/11, Sunil Kumar Yadav (30) was a National Security Guard (NSG) commando with 51-SAG (Special Action Group).

HT Image

Twice commended, he was NSG’s Best Commando of the Year. And over the next 24 hours, he was to prove his mettle during the siege of Taj Hotel.

It’s 26/11 again, but this time Sunil Kumar Yadav is hanging up his commando boots to return to his parent regiment — 9-Para SF of the Indian Army — today.

Yadav’s days with the NSG may be over but his heroism remains undiminished.

Critically injured in the action at the hotel, he was up on his feet and donating blood within a month. This April, he also helped the police catch two fleeing robbers.

The encounter

During the last stages of the critical operation to flush out terrorists holed up in a third-floor room of the hotel, Yadav took several bullets. The last two hit him in the thigh and the abdomen. Yadav passed out, and did not come to till two days after.

“When we reached the third floor room, the gunfire was fierce. We blew up the door and came face-to-face with a terrorist. We killed him but his accomplice fled under cover of the smoke from the grenade blast. During this exchange of fire, I was hit in the abdomen and the thigh. My shoes were soaked in blood. I collapsed. When I opened my eyes again, I was in the hospital. Two days had passed.”

The NSG had picked Yadav from his Army regiment for a three-year term, which would have ended in May 2011.

He’s sad about not being able to last out his full term.

“I would have loved to be with them,” he told HT.