Major Bhupender Singh, who was killed by terrorists on January 23, 1994, was honoured today in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar, his hometown, on the occasion of his 72nd birth anniversary. A war memorial dedicated to him and 12 others who were killed in the line of duty, with his bronze bust in place, was inaugurated by his family- wife Avinash Kaur and daughters Rubina Singh and Bollywood actor Nimrat Kaur.
The memorial has been set up at a public square, now named Major Bhupender Singh Chowk, in Sri Ganganagar's central area. Families of the twelve other soldiers killed in the line of action were also present at the occasion, along with several senior officials of the Indian Army, representatives of the local administration, and people from nearby villages.
Actor Nimrat Kaur shared pictures from the inauguration on her X (formerly Twitter) account and said, "Today, on my father's 72nd Birth Anniversary, a long term dream for our family came true by inaugurating a war memorial created dedicated to him and 12 other gallant martyrs all hailing from Papa's hometown Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. May the supreme sacrifice of all these soldiers be remembered forever and inspire generations to come. My deepest gratitude to our army family in tandem with the civil administration and authorities for making this dream come true for our family. Jai Hind."
Present at the occasion, Lt Col (Retd) Agyapal Singh Sidhu, father of Major Navpal Singh Sidhu who was killed in the line of action, said that he was very touched and happy to be there.
Major Bhupender Singh was kidnapped and killed by terrorists 30 years ago in Jammu and Kashmir. At the time, he was serving as the Officer Commanding (OC) of the 99 Road Construction Company and his team was responsible for building five bailey bridges on the Khannabal-Pahalgam road, according to Honourpoint. The construction was part of the 'Project Beacon'. He decided to go for a recce of the construction sites in January 1994 along with two officers and 13 soldiers, including armed escorts.
The group was ambushed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Akkar village and was fired at from a close range. However, Major Bhupender Singh quickly positioned his men to crossfire with the terrorists and successfully broke through the ambush. He was later kidnapped by the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen group on January 17, 1994 who demanded the release of some terrorists to which he refused. He was killed nearly a week later on January 23, 1994.
