RD medals: BSF jawan who killed 2 Pak smugglers gets PMG

A daredevil BSF jawan Abhijeet K Singh has been decorated with the Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG) this Republic Day for single-handedly killing two heavily-armed Pakistani drug smugglers in the dead of night along the International Border in Punjab.
Singh, a constable of the forces' 50th battalion, was alone on his observation post and was handling a thermal imager on the intervening night of March 28-29, 2015 when he noticed four armed smugglers on the Pakistani side, opposite BSF post Rattankhurd near Amritsar.
The area is notorious for drugs smuggling from across the border.
Sensing it would take sometime for his colleagues to help him, Singh immediately crawled towards the Indo-Pak fence and challenged the smugglers who were trying to insert a PVC pipe under the ground to pump in drugs.

"Due to quick reflexes and timely action by Singh, one of the smugglers got hit by a bullet who was trying to aim the AK-47 rifle and the other smuggler who was trying to insert the pipe also got killed on the spot. Other smugglers managed to escape from the scene taking cover of wheat crops and darkness," Singh's citation read.
Once the search of the area was conducted in the morning, it said, the Border Security Force team recovered two bodies of Pak smugglers, an AK series assault rifle, two magazines with 31 live rounds and 12 kg heroin.

"In recognition of his promptitude, conspicuous gallant action, combat audacity which resulted in elimination of two Pak smugglers with recovery of heroin, arms and ammunition, constable Singh, has been awarded the PMG," it said.

Four other personnel, including Head Constable Ramesh Chand posthumously, have also been decorated with the PMG for undertaking similar gallant action against Naxals in Chhattisgarh in 2015.
The country's largest border guarding force was awarded a total of 53 medals this Republic Day with the distinguished decorations going to Deputy Inspector General Ram Awtar and IG Pankaj Goomer.
Awtar, a veteran of anti-Naxal operations, has led his troops in Jammu and Kashmir and will soon take over as the new commander of the BSF in Jammu region.