Wounded in the shoulder at Tekcham, Manipur, on 6 July 1981, 2/Lt Cyrus Pithawalla of 17 JAK Rifles captured a PLA leader alive.
Tekcham Hill
On 6 July 1981, a company column of 17 JAK Rifles under 2/Lt Cyrus Addie Pithawalla set out to cordon and search the Tekcham area of Manipur for insurgents. By the citation as reproduced in published accounts, he took his men more than seven kilometres through marsh.
About 200 metres short of the hill they came under fire, and he charged. Near the position he saw a man trying to escape and chose to take him alive. As he closed the distance, a bullet struck his right shoulder.
He made the capture anyway. The prisoner was Bisheshwar Singh, leader of the People's Liberation Army. Pithawalla refused evacuation and led a search until 6 a.m. the next morning. Seven militants were killed and a large quantity of arms and ammunition was taken.
From Second Lieutenant to Major General
The award came with the 1981 Republic Day list on the official website, a date that sits before the July 1981 action described above. The sources do not explain the mismatch, and it is recorded here as found.
He remained in the Army. Wikipedia, citing Gazette notices and press reports, says he became a brigadier on 1 August 2008 and a major general on 20 January 2013, the first Ashoka Chakra recipient to reach that rank.
What the citation recorded
Summary, not the official text: the citation, seen only in unofficial reproductions, recorded that on 6 July 1981 he commanded a company column ordered to cordon and search Tekcham in Manipur, was wounded while closing on a fleeing militant, captured him, and refused evacuation to lead a search until the next morning. The official awards website carries one line stating that the award was for gallantry in Manipur.
Cover image: Namit12pandey, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for this page. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Major_General_Cyrus_Pithawalla_AC,_VSM.jpg