{{Short description|Ashoka Chakra recipient}} {{Use Indian English|date=February 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = [[Colonel (India)|Colonel]] | name = D. Sreeram Kumar | honorific_suffix = [[Ashok Chakra Award|AC]] | imagesize = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1981|01|11}}<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Ashoka Chakra to Major Mohit Sharma and Major D Sreeram Kumar: Four Kirti Chakra Also Awarded |work=Press Information Bureau |location= |date=15 August 2009}}</ref> | birth_place = [[Kovilpatti]], [[Tamil Nadu]], India | image = D. Sreeram Kumar.jpg | image_size = 250 px | caption = Portrait of Maj (now Col) D. Sreeram Kumar | allegiance = {{flag|India}} | branch = {{army|India}} | service_years = 2004–present | rank = [[File:Colonel_of_the_Indian_Army.svg|25px]] [[Colonel (India)|Colonel]] | service_number = SS-40576<br>(Short-service commission)<br>IC-66076A<br>(Regular commission) | unit = [[File:Regiment of Artillery Insignia (India).svg|20px]] 90 Medium Regiment <br/>([[Regiment of Artillery]])<br />[[File:Assam Rifles LOGO.svg|25px]] 39 [[Assam Rifles]] | battles = {{tree list}} *[[Insurgency in Northeast India]] **[[Insurgency in Arunachal Pradesh]] **[[Insurgency in Manipur]] {{tree list/end}} | awards = [[File:Ashoka_Chakra_ribbon.svg|30px]] [[Ashoka Chakra (military decoration)|Ashoka Chakra]] }} '''D. Sreeram Kumar''', [[Ashoka Chakra (military decoration)|AC]] (born 11 January 1981) is a [[commissioned officer]] in the [[Indian Army]]. In 2010, he was awarded the [[Ashoka Chakra (military decoration)|Ashoka Chakra]], India's highest peacetime gallantry decoration.
==Early life== Sreeram Kumar was born in [[Kovilpatti]], [[Thoothukudi district]], [[Tamil Nadu]]. He completed his schooling from [[Sainik School, Amaravathinagar]] in 1998. He completed his under graduation from [[The American College in Madurai]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/article490145.ece|title=Memorable reunion for senior officers at Sainik School|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=1 June 2025}}</ref>
==Army career== === Early career === Sreeram Kumar joined the [[Officers Training Academy]], [[Chennai]] in October 2002 and received a short-service commission in 90 Medium Regiment (Artillery) on 20 March 2004, with the rank of lieutenant.<ref name="commission">{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=620 |date=28 March 2009|url=https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2009/W_13_2010_017.pdf |work=The Gazette of India}}</ref> On 20 March 2009, he received a regular commission (seniority from 20 October 2004) with the service number IC-66076A,<ref name="commission"/> and was promoted captain on 20 October 2006.<ref>{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=1230 |date=18 July 2009|url=https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2009/W_29_2010_006.pdf |work=The Gazette of India}}</ref> Promoted acting [[Major (rank)|major]] on 24 August 2008, he served with 39 [[Assam Rifles]] in [[Arunachal Pradesh]] (Operation Orchid) and later in [[Manipur]] (Operation Hifazat).
===Ashoka Chakra=== [[File:The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil Patil giving away the highest gallantry award Ashok Chakra to Major D Shreeram Kumar of 39 Assam Rifles in New Delhi on January 26, 2010.jpg|thumb|Sreeram Kumar receives the [[Ashoka Chakra (military decoration)|Ashoka Chakra]] from [[President of India|Indian president]] [[Pratibha Patil]] on 26 January 2010.]]
In 2010, Sreeram Kumar was awarded the [[Ashoka Chakra (military decoration)|Ashoka Chakra]], India's highest peacetime gallantry decoration.<ref>{{cite web |title=D Sreeram Kumar |url=https://gallantryawards.gov.in/Awardee/d-sreeram-kumar |work=Gallantry Awards|access-date=1 June 2025}}</ref>
A brief about the action reads: {{Quotation |On 23 Oct 08, at 1730 hrs after obtaining explicit intelligence regarding presence of 10–15 armed terrorists at village Heingang Heibi Makhong, Imphal East District, Maj D Sreeram Kumar launched ops to eliminate the terrorists. Reaching the site, he laid multiple ambushes on the escape routes of the terrorists.
Around 1830hrs, the section under Maj D Sreeram Kumar observed suspicious movement of armed terrorists moving towards the nearby ridge on being challenged, the terrorists opened indiscriminate heavy automatic fire and pinned down the section. The officer miraculously missed certain death but showing exemplary courage and presence of mind, engaged the terrorists with accurate fire and killed two terrorists on the spot.
In the ensuring fierce encounter upholding the traditions of the Indian Army, showing leadership of the highest order and unmindful of personal safety, Maj D Sreeram Kumar directed his buddy to provide covering fire and with utter disregard to his own safety dashed down and closed in crawling and killed the two terrorists at point blank range. A fifth terrorist was killed by his buddy after vigorous search.
For displaying inspirational leadership, conspicuous gallantry under hostile fire and single handled eliminating four terrorists, Maj D Sreeram Kumar was awarded ‘Ashok Chakra’ on the occasion of the Independence Day 09.<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Army |url=https://indianarmy.nic.in/Site/FormTemplete/frmTempSimple.aspx?MnId=DHuBG0KNvRWqqeNgniS/bw==&ParentID=p8HmKmv58xObdnLtxgxwLQ== |work=[[Indian Army]] |access-date=1 June 2025}}</ref> }}
===Subsequent career=== Kumar received a substantive promotion to major on 20 October 2010,<ref>{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=601 |date=26 March 2011|url=https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2011/W_13_2011_071.pdf |work=The Gazette of India}}</ref> with promotion to [[Lieutenant colonel|lieutenant-colonel]] on 20 October 2017.<ref>{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=1990 |date=27 July 2019|url=https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/208580.pdf |work=The Gazette of India}}</ref> On 31 January 2021, he was promoted to [[Colonel (India)|colonel]] (by selection), with seniority from 26 October 2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=122 |date=29 January 2022|url=https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2022/232976.pdf |work=The Gazette of India}}</ref> He later went on to command [[90 Field Regiment (India)|90 Medium Regiment]] and was later selected for Higher Command course at Army War Collage Mhow. He is currently posted in Southern Command
==Controversy== In March 2013, a Supreme Court judicial commission ruled the killing of cousins Gobind and Nobo Meitei in the Langol area of Imphal to have been a staged encounter. The killings took place on 4 April 2009, and involved a joint team of local police and a unit of 39 Assam Rifles commanded by Kumar. While official statements from the paramilitary forces were that the cousins had opened fire when challenged and had been killed in response, the judicial panel concluded that based on medical evidence and witness testimonies, the action was "not an encounter but an operation by the security forces wherein death of the victims was caused knowingly".
Referring to the encounter, in which 89 rounds were fired at the pair, Kumar was reported as saying the encounter had been genuine, and that his understanding was "when a person is warned by the security forces and if he reacts by firing, such a person is a hardcore terrorist."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Anand |first1=Utkarsh |last2=Roy |first2=Esha|title=Ashoka Chakra awardee led fake encounter in Manipur, says SC panel |url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/ashoka-chakra-awardee-led-fake-encounter-in-manipur-says-sc-panel/1169378/0 |location=Imphal; New Delhi |work=The Indian Express |publication-date=15 September 2013|access-date=29 August 2020 }}</ref>
On 14 July 2017, the Supreme Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a probe into several extrajudicial killings in Manipur, including the case in which Kumar was implicated.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pubby |first1=Manu |title=4 key Manipur encounter cases in focus as SC orders CBI probe into extra-judicial killings|url=https://theprint.in/theprint-primer/4-key-manipur-encounter-cases-in-focus-as-sc-orders-cbi-probe-into-extra-judicial-killings/3088/|work=The Print |publication-date=14 July 2017|access-date=29 August 2020 }}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Ashoka Chakra award recipients}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, D. Sreeram}} [[Category:Indian Army officers]] [[Category:Military personnel from Tamil Nadu]] [[Category:1981 births]] [[Category:Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration)]] [[Category:People from Coimbatore]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Sainik School alumni]] [[Category:Ashoka Chakra]]