Bhubaneswar: Army officers who worked with Colonel Viplav Tripathi, the Commanding Officer (CO) of 46 Assam Rifles who was killed in an ambush in Manipur, described him as a “josh machine” and “always smiling”, according to media reports.
Col. Tripathi’s wife, eight-year-old son and four soldiers were killed in the ambush in Manipur’s Churachandpur district, in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the region in recent times.
A week ago on November 7, Col. Tripathi’s parents, Subhash Tripathi (80) and wife Asha (70), had returned to Raigarh in Chhattisgarh after celebrating Diwali with him and his family.
Col. Tripathi’s uncle Rajesh Patnaik said he could not get leave for Diwali.
The officer was inspired by his freedom fighter grandfather Kishori Mohan Tripathi to join the armed forces. “Kishori Mohan Tripathi died in 1994 when Viplav was 14. It was his grandfather who inspired Viplav to don the army uniform,” Patnaik told PTI.
His grandfather was part of the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution.
The attack is suspected to have been carried out by militants from the separatist group People’s Liberation Army or People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK).
Col. Tripathi was returning from a forward company base to his battalion headquarters when his convoy was ambushed near Sehkan village, about 65 km from Churachandpur.
The incident has left the defence establishment shocked, as the area on the Manipur-Mizoram border has been relatively peaceful in recent years. Besides, it is rare where an officer’s family is targeted by insurgents.
The Tripathi family hails from Raigarh in Chhattisgarh.
“Viplav joined the Indian Army with the goal of serving the nation, taking inspiration from his grandfather, a great freedom fighter. His father, a senior journalist, and his mother, a social activist, also encouraged him. He sacrificed his life while serving the country. We are proud of him,” Patnaik told PTI.
Viplav was attached to Kishori Mohan, and had even visited the Rashtrapati Bhawan with him when Giani Zail Singh was President, he said.
Born on May 30, 1980, Viplav went to Sainik School Rewa (Madhya Pradesh) after passing Class V from a school in Raigarh town. His father, Subhash Tripathi (76), is a senior journalist and editor of the local Hindi daily ‘Dainik Bayar’ and his mother Asha is a retired librarian.
After schooling, Viplav joined the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla and then the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, Patnaik said.
In 2001, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Kumaon Regiment in Ranikhet. He later passed a command course from the Defence Service Staff College (DSSC) Wellington.
Viplav’s younger brother Anay Tripathi, who also studied at the Sainik School Rewa, is also an army officer, now posted as a lieutenant colonel in Shillong, Patnaik said.
“The entire family had celebrated Diwali this year in Manipur, where Viplav was posted. His parents returned to Raigarh on November 6,” he said.
Anay has left for the Eastern Command headquarters in Kolkata, and mortal remains of Viplav, his wife and son would be brought to Raigarh on Sunday, Patnaik said.
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