A 21-year-old aerospace engineering student from Tamil Nadu who was twice rejected by the Indian Army because of his height is now fighting for Ukraine against Russia as part of the Georgian National Legion paramilitary unit comprising volunteers, as per an intelligence report to the Centre and the state government, Times of India reported.
The report states that the Intelligence sleuths visited the house of Sainikhesh Ravichandran at Subramaniyampalayam, near Thudiyalur in Coimbatore, a few days ago and met his parents.
As per the report, two days ago, the sleuths submitted a report describing his family background, conduct and probable reason for his decision to take up arms for Ukraine.
His family had apparently attempted to convince him to return home, but he refused, TOI report said.
It also added that after completing his schooling in 2018, he tried to join the Army but didn’t make it.
Meanwhile, a family friend told TOI that he once approached the US consulate in Chennai, seeking to know if he stood a chance of joining the American army. On realising he couldn’t, he enrolled for a course at National Aerospace University in Kharkiv in 2018.
A month ago, he called and said he had found a part-time job in a video game development firm. “When the war broke out, he was incommunicado for four days. That’s when we saw a report about a Tamil Nadu youth joining Ukrainian forces and we were shocked,” the family friend was quoted as saying in the report.