OdishaPlus Bureau
Maj. Acharya originally from Odisha was a resident of Hyderabad, Telangana. Maj Acharya was married to Charulatha. Acharya’s father, Jagannath Acharya, was a retired wing commander of the Indian Air Force, during 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. He is presently working with the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) at Hyderabad.
Maj. Acharya is survived by his parents, wife and his daughter, Aparajita, who was born a few months after his death. Aparajita herself has been an NCC cadet.
On 28 June 1999, in the division attack on the Tololing feature by the 2nd Rajputana Rifles, Major Padmapani Acharya was assigned the formidable task of capturing an enemy position which was heavily fortified and strongly held with minefields and sweeping machine gun and artillery fire. He was a Company Commander,
Success of the battalion and brigade operation hinged on the early capture of this position. However the company attack almost faltered at the very beginning, when the enemy’s artillery fire came down squarely on the leading platoon, inflicting large numbers of casualties. With utter disregard to his personal safety, Major Padmapani Acharya took the reserve platoon and led it through raining artillery shells.
The events of Battle of Tololing was adapted as one of the prominent battle scenes in the Hindi, war film LOC Kargil in which actor Nagarjuna portrayed the role of Acharya.