Divers from the Army’s Special Forces based at Nahan have recovered the body of a youth who had gone missing on Thursday while bathing in the Renuka Ji Lake in Sirmaur District of Himachal Pradesh.
On a requisition from the civil administration, a diving team of 1 PARA (SF) was deployed to Renuka Ji Lake to assist in locating a 21-year-old resident of Dadahu, identified as Sumit, according to the Army.
“Despite challenging underwater conditions, the team conducted an extensive search and successfully recovered the body, enabling its handover to the family through local police authorities,” the Western Command said on Saturday.
According to the local police, he had gone to the lake to bathe with some friends. When he did not emerge from the water, police launched a search operation. The youth’s clothes, shoes and mobile phone were found on the steps of Sanan Ghat.
Among the oldest and one of the most distinguished units of the Indian Army’s Parachute Regiment, 1 Para (Special Forces), also known as the Red Devils, has undertaken numerous high-risk missions in aid to civil authorities, including the famous cable car rescue in Himachal Pradesh in the early 1990s.
The battalion, at present based at Nahan in Himachal Pradesh as part of the Western Command, traces its origin to 1761 when it was raised as part of the 2nd Punjab Regiment and now specialises in urban warfare, counter-terrorism and direct-action operations.
After independence, it formed part of the 50 Parachute Brigade and participated in the 1947-48 operations against Pakistan. The unit is well known for its role in capturing the strategic Haji Pir Pass in the Uri Sector during the 1965 India-Pakistan War. It was converted into a Special Forces unit in 1978 and was also deployed to Jaffna in Sri Lanka as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF).
