Major Manish Pitambare KC was an

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

officer who posthumously received the

Kirti Chakra The Kirti Chakra () is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the field of battle. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, including posthumous awards. It is the ...

, India's second highest peacetime gallantry decoration.

Education

After obtaining his

Secondary School Certificate Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or Matriculation examination, is a public examination in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Maldives and Nepal conducted by educational boards for the successful completi ...

with marks of almost 90%, Pitambare joined the Services Preparatory Institute (SPI) in

Aurangabad Aurangabad (), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

and then prepared for the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

(NDA). He went on to join the NDA in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, and went on to the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

(IMA). He commissioned into the Indian Army in 1996. He was made a

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

before the age of 31.

Military career

Pitambare was part of the team that tracked down Al-Badr militant Toufik Akmal, wanted for his suspected links to the

11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings The 2006 Mumbai train bombings were a series of seven bomb blasts on 11 July. They took place over a period of 11 minutes on the Mumbai Suburban Railway, Suburban Railway in Mumbai, the capital of the States and territories of India, Indian st ...

. In 2006, Pitambare was serving with the 3rd battalion of the Parachute Regiment and was on counter-insurgency operations in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. On 27 November 2006, during a night-long gun battle in south Kashmir's Bijbehara, Pitambare shot dead Suhail Faizal, one of

Hizbul Mujahideen Hizbul Mujahideen, also spelled Hizb-ul-Mujahidin (, ), is a Pakistan-based Islamist separatist militant organisation that has been engaged in the Kashmir insurgency since 1989. It aims to separate Kashmir from India and merge it with Pakist ...

’s top commanders in

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

. He was later killed in the same battle. In January 2007, Pitambare was posthumously awarded the

, India's second highest peacetime gallantry award.

Personal life

Pitambare married his wife Mughda in 2003 and the couple had a daughter, Yukta, in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitambare, Manish Indian Army officers 1975 births 2006 deaths Military personnel from Maharashtra Recipients of the Kirti Chakra