Despite being injured, Lieutenant Arun Khetrapal of the 1971 India-Pakistan war, ignoring his injury, proceeded to destroy the Pakistani battle tank. Risaldar Prayag Singh, the driver of Khetrapal’s tank named Famagusta, while giving information about the last day of his war, said that Khetarpal was a devotee of mother Jagdamba and while moving towards the tank, he loudly proceeded to say Jagdamba ki Jai.
21-year-old Arun had not yet learned all the art of warfare, although he persuaded his officers to allow himself to take part in the war. Seeing Arun’s courage, Pakistani officials themselves also started saluting him. Arun destroyed 10 enemy tanks in the fighting at Shakargarh in the Punjab-Jammu sector. At the age of 21, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra.
Narrating the story of the war, Singh said that the 17 Poona Horse was commanded by the 47th Infantry Brigade during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which was involved in the Battle of Basantar in the Shakargarh sector. The brigade was to build a bridgehead on the Basantar river. On 15 December, they captured their target despite extensive minesweepers by the enemy to prevent the deployment of Poona Horse tanks. It was a joint operation by 17 Horse, 4 Horse (two armored regiments), 16 Madras and 3 Grenadiers, Singh said. The engineers emptied the mines halfway, while the Indian troops, sensing the alarming speed of the enemy’s armour, decided to pull 17 Poona Horses out of the mine at this point.
On 16 December, Pakistan’s Bakht made its first counter-attack. The commander of the squadron immediately called for reinforcements. Second Lieutenant Arun Khetrapal along with the rest of his regiment reacted quickly and launched a brutal counter-attack. He was able to successfully subdue the enemy’s advance with his tank. However, the commander of the second tank was wounded during the battle. As in charge, Arun continued to attack the enemy. However, the enemy did not retreat despite inflicting a large number of casualties. The farmer attacked the oncoming Pakistani troops and tanks, shattering enemy tanks in the process. However, the Pakistani army retaliated. Khetarpal then smashed 10 enemy tanks. Singh said that Arun had not left his tank and kept fighting with the enemy. There was a huge fire in his tank, he climbed on it and put out the fire but by the time he was martyred.