NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday awarded three Kirti Chakras and 15 Shaurya Chakras to armed forces personnel for displaying gallantry and several other service medals, including a Param Vishisht Seva Medal to Army Chief General Bipin Rawat.
The second highest peacetime gallantry awards, Kirti Chakras, were posthumously awarded to Sepoy Vramha Pal Singh of the Rajput Regiment and Rajendra Kumar Nain, a constable with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
The President, who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, also awarded a Shaurya Chakra posthumously. Their families accepted the award at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The three laid down their lives in anti-militancy operations. Besides Rawat, 14 senior officials of the three armed forces including Lt. Gen. Manoj Naravane, the chief of the Eastern Command of the Army, Lt. Gen. Bipin Puri, the chief of the Armed Forces Medical Corps, Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Air Command, were awarded the PVSM medal.