Lt Col N V Raghavan was serving with the 15 Kumaon battalion in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir in 1999. As part of the ongoing Operation Rakshak, the unit troops were engaged in operations against militants in its AOR (Area of Responsibility). Terrorist activity increased as the Kargil war erupted and the Army launched Operation Vijay. Lt Col N V Raghavan and his unit soldiers were on high alert, aggressively patrolling the area. The unit's AOR was close to the LoC and was vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists from the other side of the border. The unit's AOR was close to the LOC and was vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists from the other side of the border. In June 1999, a report was received of one such infiltration attempt in the Machhil sub-sector of Kupwara district, in which eight militants sneaked across the LOC and holed up on a 12000 feet high feature.