Hello, Warriors! The nation recently grieved the martyrdom of an elite soldier Lt Col E.K. Niranjan. Lt Col Niranjan, a member of the NSG’s Bomb Disposal Squad, who was killed while defusing the grenade at the scene of the terror attack as part of the combing operations that continues till today. Four other security men were also injured in the blast.
Here’s the life of the supreme soldier in brief:
NSG commando Lt Col Niranjan, who was killed in the grenade blast at Pathankot air base on Sunday, lost his mother at a young age. Born in Bengaluru, Niranjan grew up with his two brothers and a sister away from his home state Kerala. His father EK Sivaranjan, now a retired BEML employee, moved to the city 40 years ago. Kumar’s family roots can be traced to Elambassery village in Palakkad district. Lt Col Niranjan got married three years ago in Elambassery and had a daughter of this marriage who is 1½ years old.
He cleared the CDSE exam and SSB and was sent to OTA, Chennai for his basic military training. Batch mates fondly called Niranjan, Ninja.
One of the batch mates, a Malayalam actor, Major Kishore recalled that there will be punishment irrespective of whether one does or does not do things in the OTA. We would be together undergoing these punishments.
By 2006, both were promoted to Major after being commissioned in the Engineer’s Corps of the Army. And three years later, Kishore took a voluntary retirement whereas his friend, Ninja, volunteered to join the National Security Guard.
He was promoted to the rank of Lt Col in the elite NSG just a few months ago.
He used to speak Hindi with a thick South Indian accent and people used to love it. He was adventurous, brave, confident, used to speak his mind and stand by what he felt was right. Despite punishments in the OTA, he would not change his stance on a subject. He was a leader. 
And the Lt Col continued that aspect of his personality to the very final minute. While dealing with the IEDs, you don’t know their size or shape or where they are. It is no ordinary grenade. As the Commanding Officer, he could’ve deputed his men to do the job. But he always believed in leading by example by sacrificing his life for the security of nation in the true interests of the Indian Military.
We all salute this Braveheart.
