New Delhi, April 29
Lieutenant General Baggavalli Somashekar Raju, the Director General Military Operations, will take over as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff on Sunday. An alumnus of Sainik School, Bijapur, and the National Defense Academy, Lt Gen Raju was commissioned into the Jat Regiment on December 15, 1984. In his career spanning 38 years, he had commanded his battalion during Operation Parakram in the Western Theatre. He also commanded the Uri brigade along the Line of Control (LoC) and a counter-insurgency force in 15 Corps based out of Srinagar.
The General also served as the Commandant of the Indian Military training team in Bhutan. He is a qualified helicopter pilot having carried out operational flying in Somalia as part of a mission of the United Nations.