India China border faceoff at Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh on Monday night led to the death of 20 Army personnel. One of them being Colonel Bikkumalla Santosh Babu who had taken over as Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar Regimenthis battalion only in December last year. The Martyred Colonel’s mother says she is proud of her son’s sacrifice.
Martyred Colonel Santosh’s mother said, “I am proud my son sacrificed his life for our country, but as a mother, I am devastated. He was the kind of person who wouldn’t think twice before putting his life in danger to save someone else’s. He was like that since childhood… It is yet to sink in that he is no more; that he won’t greet me with ‘Amma’ again in his booming voice.”.”
She added, “He was my only son. I came across the news in the afternoon, while my daughter-in-law got the news in the morning.”
Santosh Babu had got orders for posting to Hyderabad three months back. He could not leave, first due to the lockdown and then tensions with China at Galwan Valley. He is survived by wife Santoshi, a 9-year old daughter Abhinav and a 4-year old son Anirudh.
The ex-NDA cadet belonged to the 105 “November” squadron. He was commissioned as an officer in December 2004. Babu went on to pursue training at the Defence Services Staff College. He also had a tenure with the Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu and Kashmir. Suresh Babu was part of the Indian contingent of the UN peacekeeping forces in Congo.
Also Read: Galwan Valley: 20 Indian Soldiers Killed; 43 Chinese Casualties