Born in 1983 in a Tamil family in Kozhikode district, Mukund completed his college in 2004 before joining the Officers Training Academy in Chennai. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Indian army in 2006. He served at the Infantry school in Mhow and was part of a United Nations mission in Lebanon. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 2011. He became a major in 2012 and was deputed to the 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles.
In June 2013, Mukund killed Altaf Baba, then commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed in South Kashmir, when a group of terrorists attacked Mukund's army convoy. On 25 April 2014, Mukund led his team to Qazipathri in Southern Kashmir, to engage with Altaf Wani, who had replaced Altaf Baba as the local commander of the terrorists in the region. Wani and two terrorists had killed electoral officers during the 2014 Indian general election. Mukund and sepoy Vikram Singh killed all the three terrorists in the ensuing gunfight. However, both the army men were also killed in the battle.
On 1 June 2015, a bust of Mukund was unveiled at the premises of the Officers Training Academy in Chennai. In 2024, a Tamilbiographical filmAmaran, which was based on his life, was released.
Mukund worked at a Business Process Outsourcing center for sometime before he decided to join the Indian Armed Forces.[4] His grandfather Raghavachari and two of his uncles also served in the Indian Army, which motivated him to take up a career with the armed forces.[3][4] He married Indhu Rebecca Varghese in 2009, and the couple have a daughter.[1][4]
In June 2013, Mukund's convoy was attacked by armed terrorists near an apple orchard in Shopian district. The group was led by Altaf Baba, the South Kashmir commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based Islamic terrorist organization.[10]:137–139[11][12] While several Indian army men were hurt in the attack, Mukund killed Baba with the help of his army colleague Sepoy Vikram Singh.[10]:137–139 As per Mukund's commanding officer Amit Singh Dabas, Mukund worked with the electronic warfare unit at Srinagar on cracking the communication codes used by the terrorists.[10]:140 Based on the cracked codes, the Indian army found a safe house in Qazipathri village, which was used by the terrorists while transiting between Shopian and Yarwan forests.[10]:141
Qazipathri operation
On 25 April 2014, at around 14:30 IST, Indian army intelligence reports indicated the presence of three armed men in the safe house at Qazipathri in Southern Kashmir.[10]:142[13][14] One of them was Altaf Wani, who had replaced Altaf Baba as the local commander of the terrorists in the region.[10]:141 The other two belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba, another Pakistan-based Islamic militant organization.[10]:143[15] The terrorists had earlier attacked the electoral officers during the polling for the 2014 Indian general election, and killed one of the officers.[14][10]:143 The safe house compound consisted of a two storey brick house and two outhouses, surrounded by an orchard.[10]:141–142 Mukund led his team for a cordon and search operation, and reached the location at 15:00 hrs. The twelve member team was split into six pairs of two men each and were assigned specific roles. Mukund was paired with sepoy Vikram Singh.[10]:141–143 The army team initially evacuated the civilians from the area.[10]:142
At about 17:00 hrs, Mukund's team came under heavy gunfire from the terrorists holed inside the house.[10]:142[16] At 17:30 hrs, Mukund lobbed a improvised explosive device into the terrorists' hiding, and one of the terrorists was killed in the return gunfire by the armed soldiers.[10]:143 The other two terrorists which included Wani, returned fire, which injured Mukund in his forearm. They moved to one of the outhouses in the compound, before one of them was killed using a grenade by Mukund.[10]:144[14] Wani hid behind a stack of wooden logs, and returned fire, which killed Vikram Singh.[10]:145 Mukund and Wani engaged in a firefight, which resulted in both the men being shot.[10]:145[14] Wani was killed and the bodies of the three dead men were recovered later from the site.[13][16]
Death and aftermath
Mukund's body carried in a casket
Mukund had sustained three bullet injuries during the Qazipatri operation, and was bleeding profusely. He told one of his team members that he and Vikram managed to kill Wani, but Vikram was killed in the process. He also remarked that, "And I got hit too. I can’t believe it."[10]:145 As per Dabas' instructions, Mukund was to be moved to the government hospital in Pulwama for initial treatment, and was to be shifted to Srinagar later for further treatment.[10]:145 However, Mukund succumbed to his injuries en route to the hospital.[1][10]:146 His body was shifted to Chennai on 27 April, and was kept at the Officers Training Academy for public viewing. His body was cremated with full state honours on 28 April.[13]
On 15 August 2014, Mukund was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, India's highest peacetime gallantry award. It was presented to his wife Indu by then Indian presidentPranab Mukherjee on 26 January 2015.[17] His award commendation read as "(for showing) exemplary leadership skills, raw courage and swift action."[18] It was further cited that:
Maj. Mukund Varadarajan exhibited most conspicuous bravery and exemplary leadership and made the supreme sacrifice while fighting with the terrorists
On 1 June 2015, a bust of Mukund was unveiled at the premises of the Officers Training Academy in Chennai.[19] The 2015 Malayalam film Picket 43 was dedicated to Mukund,[20] who had been assisting the film crew during production.[21] In 2024, a Tamil film, Amaran, a biopic based on Mukund's life, was released,[22] and Sivakarthikeyan portrayed Mukund in the film.[23][24]
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Ashoka Chakra 
