MB Ravindranath hailed from Davangere district of Karnataka, son of Mr Magod Basappa, a retired school teacher, and Mrs Sarojamma, was born on 15 May 1959. A student of Sainik School in Vijayapura, Ravindranath joined the Kilo Squadron, National Defence Academy in 1976. He played all the games and played them well. He passed out of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun in 1980 and was commissioned into the Rajputana Rifles Regiment, a regiment known for its valiant soldiers.

Ravindranath served in the field area in Arunachal Pradesh as a young Lieutenant. Later he served in various operational areas and rose to the position of an instructor at the military training school in Mhow. After spending five years at the training school, he was posted to the unit deployed in J&K for counter-insurgency operations in 1986-87. Before the Kargil war, he had already had three tenures in the J&K area and had substantial experience of operating in that area
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During Operation Vijay in 1999, Ravindranath was commanding the 2 Raj Rif battalion deployed in the Kargil sector. He had been tasked with capturing the strategic heights of Tololing, Point 4590 and Black Rock in the Drass sector that dominated the Srinagar-Leh Road. Ravindranath, the then commanding officer of 2 Rajputana Rifles wrested Tololing Top from Pakistan intruders. He personally led the reconnaissance teams of his battalion under enemy artillery and small arms fire. During the assault on 12 June 1999 at Tololing, the troops were under constant enemy artillery shelling and heavy automatic fire. Realising the gravity of the situation, Ravindranath reached the spot and quickly restored the situation with his personal influence, which ultimately led to beating back the enemy counterattacks and consolidating the hold on Tololing and Point 4590.

Ravindranath served in the Indian Army for nineteen years, became an instant hero in his unit, and was showered with praises and accolades. He retired from the Army in 2001 after the Kargil War, for his actions during the war, Ravindranath was awarded the Vir Chakra on 15 August 1999. He lived in Bangalore and was on the board of directors for a number of self-owned ventures including Magod Fusion Technologies, Magod Laser Machining, Preusse India, and Tycoon Software Technologies.

He died of a heart attack on 8 April 2018 in a neighbourhood park at the age of 59 while jogging. There was significant furore in social and mainstream media for him not being given a state funeral by the then Congress governed Karnataka state Government, who did not hesitate a bit to conduct a state funeral for the court-convicted propagandist Gauri Lankesh.

Ravindranath is survived by his wife Anitha and two daughters- Prerna and Prarthana. "My father used to visit the Army War College, Mhow, to give lectures for the Junior Command (JC) course. One of his very dear topics was about the youth and their responsibility towards the country," recalls Prerna. He felt he was making a difference. Prerna remembers him often saying, "Influence and influence rightly." "Lead by example was his principle in life," she says. He used to say it doesn't matter who we are and what we do, but that it's important to take care of ourselves and others around us. His sense of social duty was high, and that was what we were taught too," his daughter Prerna Magod says. She is the elder of the two daughters.


🙏May his soul rest in peace🙏