Lance Havildar Chhering Mutup of the Ladakh Scouts led a patrol in the Siachen area on 21 February 1985 and later received the Ashoka Chakra.
Crest Line on the Saltoro Ridge
On 21 February 1985, under Operation Meghdoot, Lance Havildar Chhering Mutup of the Ladakh Scouts led a patrol at a forward post in the Siachen area. Published accounts say he volunteered to take a crest line overlooking an Indian position on the Saltoro Ridge. ETV Bharat, quoting a Likir councillor, describes the capture of a strategic point in harsh conditions.
The citation as reproduced names the conditions: extreme altitude, high winds, heavy snow and blizzards. It says he led the patrol from fold to fold and finished the assignment.
Likir Village, 24 Years in the Scouts
He came from Likir, in Leh district, and the official profile records his enrolment on 23 June 1965 and his service number as 9920311Y. The same profile lists him as Honorary Naib Subedar, his final rank, a rank Wikipedia dates to his retirement on 1 July 1989.
His son, Tsewang Morup, received the Vir Chakra for the Kargil War of 1999 and died on duty in April 2023, according to ETV Bharat. Sources also spell the family name Motup.
Chhering Mutup died in Ladakh on 3 August 2025, aged 80.
What the citation recorded
Summary, not the official text: as reproduced on Wikipedia, which attributes it to official sources, the citation recorded that he led a patrol through extreme altitude, high winds, heavy snow and blizzards to complete a difficult assignment at a forward location in Jammu and Kashmir. The official text could not be read at source.