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Second Lieutenant Rajiv Pandey, VC was a Indian soldier, and a winner of the nation's third highest military award, the Vir Chakra. He has held the ranks of Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army. As a Second Lieutenant, he led the team which was assigned to conquer the Quaid Post in the Siachen area. He was martyred in this operation.Later on the Operation was named as Operation_Rajiv in his honour.

Early life
Rajiv Pandey was born on 11th April 1965 at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.His parents were Smt Shakuntala Pandey and Col Dr RP Pandey.

He did his schooling from Central school kirki,Pune Maharashtra and graduation from Science college,Raipur Chhatisgarh

He enrolled in the Indian Army into the 8th Battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAK LI).

Confrontation at Siachen, 26 June 1987
In 1987, the strategically important Siachen area had been infiltrated by the Pakistani forces. The Pakistanis had captured an important position, which they called "Quaid post" (from Quaid-e-Azam, the title of Muhammad Ali Jinnah). The post was located at a height of 6500 metres on the highest peak in the Siachen Glacier area (the peak was later renamed to "Bana Top" by the Indians, in honour of Bana Singh). From this feature the Pakistanis could snipe at Indian army positions since the height gave a clear view of the entire Saltoro range and Siachen glacier. The enemy post was virtually an impregnable glacier fortress with ice walls, 457 metres high, on either side

On 18 April 1987, the Pakistanis from Quaid Post fired on the Indian troops at Point Sonam (6,400 m), killing two soldiers. The Indian Army then decided to evict the Pakistanis from the Post. Second Lieutenant Rajiv Pandey was posted in Siachen on 20 April 1987, as part of the 8th JAK LI regiment, which was given the task of capturing the Quaid Post. The eviction of the Pakistanis became essential. On May 29 a patrol of 8 JAK LI was asked to probe the approaches to Quaid Post. Led by 2nd Lt. Rajiv Pande they started through a difficult route, a sheer almost 90º wall of 500 meters at 1100 hours.They were undetected till they were about 30 meters from the post. The first man over the ice wall was Lance Havildar Mulk Raj Sharma who equipped with only a pick axe established a number of footholds on the vertical ice wall. The patrol inched its way onwards the post. At the last moment they were sighted by the enemy who opened fire with a heavy machine gun. The heavy fire at close range instantaneously killed 2nd Lt. Pande, Lance Havildar Sharma and four others.Three men survived to tell the tale. However they did not die in vain, as they had laid a rope to the top. A pall of gloom descended on 8 JAK LI which gave way to cold fury. After a month of preparation, the Indian Army launched a fresh operation to capture the post. This operation, called Operation_Rajiv in honor of Rajiv Pande, was headed by Major Varinder Singh.

Starting on 23 June 1987, Varinder Singh's task force launched multiple attacks to capture the post. After initial failures, the 5-member team led by Bana Singh successfully captured the Quaid post on 26 June..

Aftermath
Rajiv Pandey was awarded Vir Chakra, the third highest wartime gallantry medal in India, for his bravery during Operation. Chhatisgarh Government has named state sports awards in honor of Rajiv Pandey(Shaheed Rajeev Pandey Awards).