Col Santosh Babu had taken charge of army’s 16 Bihar Unit in December

NEW DELHI: Colonel B Santosh Babu, the Commanding Officer of the Army’s 16 Bihar unit who was killed during a violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh on Monday night, had taken over his battalion only in December last year.

The ex-NDA cadet belonged to the 105 “November” squadron and was commissioned as an officer in December 2004. Babu went on pursue training at the Defence Services Staff College, where officers head to attain higher command positions. He also had a tenure with the Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu and Kashmir and was part of the Indian contingent of the UN peacekeeping forces in Congo.

A friend, who has been close to him since their days together at the National Defence Academy, Pune and who had been commissioned into the same regiment, described Babu as a “motivator” and a “guide”.


The person, who did not wish to be named, recalled that anyone could reach out to him with their problems and described Babu as composed and meticulous, traits that his juniors imbibed. The officer, who hailed from Telangana’s Suryapet district, is survived by his Delhi-based wife and two children.

The “violent face-off” also claimed the lives of two others, Havildar Palani and Sepoy Ojha, sources told ET. Their first names could not be immediately ascertained. The incident took place during a de-escalation process that involved thinning down of troops of both sides at Galwan Valley.

Babu’s unit, the sources said, had been waiting since Monday morning to ensure that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops fell back according to the disengagement plan decided during the high-level military talks.

Even as the Chinese troops were ready to leave, they suddenly started assaulting Indian soldiers. Babu and other soldiers were hit with iron poles and stones. Indian army men retaliated and beat up some PLA soldiers, with the unarmed combat continuing for several hours.

The soldiers’ deaths were the first since 1975 when four Assam Rifles troops were killed by Chinese soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh. The incident is likely to complicate the military dialogue between India and China to defuse the simmering situation.