Bishnu Shrestha

Some Lesser Known Facts About Bishnu Shrestha

• Bishnu Shrestha, born 1975, is a retired Indian Army officer. He belongs to Parbat district, Nepal.

• He took voluntary retirement from the military in August 2010. He and his father were in service in the 7th Battalion of the 8th Gurkha Infantry.

• He shot to fame when he single-handedly fought off 40 robbers while travelling from Ranchi to Gorakhpur in Maurya Express on 2nd September 2010.

• The band of about 40 robbers, some of whom were travelling as passengers, stopped the train in the Chittaranjan jungles in West Bengal around midnight. Shrestha had boarded the train at Ranchi in Jharkhand, the place of his posting. He was in seat number 47 in coach AC3. ^[2]MYREPUBLICA

• In an interview, he said that some robbers posed as passengers started snatching and looting jewellery, cell phones, cash, laptops and other belongings from the passengers. He was robbed off his wristwatch, mobile and wallet.

• Amidst all this situation, he decided not to indulge in the fight but when robbers tried to gang rape a girl sitting next to him in front of her parents, he drew out his traditional weapon, Kukri and in an ensuing battle between him and robbers, 3 robbers were killed and 8 were injured. Rest, however, managed to flee.

• The scuffle lasted for 20 minutes and he sustained serious injuries to his left arm which left him hospitalized for 2 months though eventually, he gained the full function of his injured arm.

  

• After 20 minutes the train reached Chittaranja station where the West Bengal Police arrested the eight injured dacoits and recovered around 4,00,000 Indian rupees in cash, 40 gold necklaces, 200 cell phones, 40 laptops and other items that the fleeing robbers dropped in the train.

• After the incident, he received a cash award of Indian rupees 50,000 and a silver-plated kukri. His voluntary retirement was terminated and was promoted to a higher rank after the Indian Government decorated Shrestha with Sena Medal and The Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak medal. Apart from that, he received the bounty money amount that was placed on the heads of killed and injured dacoits. ^[3]India Times

• The family of the girl, whom he saved also offered him a cash reward, but he refused it saying-
  

  Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier. Taking on the thugs on the train was my duty as a human being.”

• A biopic on his life is in plans and the rights for production and direction have been bought by singer-actor Himesh Reshammiya. ^[4]Times of India