Lt Gen Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd) Chairman 262, Sector-17A, Gurgaon 122 001 Mobile: 09811228878

8 Email: rajkadyan@yahoo.com IESM/ECHS/11 2011 17 Nov

Dear General, I am attaching an account of Major Pancholis ill health. He served in 9 SIKH before being boarded out with 50% disability incurred due to Service hazards. It will be a befitting gesture for the Army to take care of his medical problems in whatever manner considered appropriate. It will send a very positive signal that the system cares. With best regards, Yours sincerely,

Raj Kadyan Lt Gen JP Nehra Adjutant General Integrated Headquarters of the MoD (Army) South Block New Delhi 110 011

War Wounded Battle Casualty Fighting Cancer

1. He was fatally wounded and taken for dead during operations in Northern Sector. He was stacked amongst the dead bodies and lucky to survive the ordeal to tell his horrific experience. He defied odds and was snatched from the jaws of death by timely retrieval and medical attention during operations against Pakistan. And 40 years later now at the age of 65, he is fighting again but this time the enemy is GLIOMA a deadly brain cancer with grave prognosis and devastating effects. 2. Major Sujeet Kumar Pancholi was commissioned in 9 Sikh after graduating from IMA as direct entry cadet in 1968. Grandson of Rai Bahadur Kesri Singh Pancholi and son of Mr M N Pancholi, Major Sujeet belonged to an illustrious family of erstwhile Mewar State (Now Udaipur). His father was an IAS officer and Grandfather was Deewan of princely states. He did his schooling at famous Vidya Bhawan School and was attending engineering college at Pilani (Raj) after graduating when the adventure and nationalistic bug caught him to join the Armed Forces. If chosen otherwise, he could have joined any other elite civil service. 3. The serious battle wounds suffered by him in Valley ops took serious toll of his physical strength and it took all his will power and grit to fight the injuries while under treatment in various Military Hospitals. Downgraded in Medical Classification and handicapped to cope with pressure of active duties entailed upon Infantrymen, he was INVALIDED OUT of active service in 1976 with 50 % disability. An Acting Major but Substantive Captain. 4. No further sheltered appointments. No side stepping to any Paramilitary or other Govt service. Just bye bye and some dole for war wounded battle casualty! 5. He fought for his survival in civil life. Got married late. Tried hand at various jobs at Udaipur and after 40 years of his defying death and surviving in an ungrateful Nation and civil society who

forget their VETERANS, he is today lying in ICU of a NON ECHS EMPANNELED civil hospital at Udaipur ,suffering from a deadly form of brain cancer. 6. The ECHS extended help to him at Delhi for initial surgical intervention and follow up treatment for Radio and Chemo Therapy at their empanelled facility in NCR. But how long a Non Delhi family survives at Delhi? (As Mirza Ghalib had rightly said long back, Mana ki dilli mein rahenge per khayenge kya ?) 7. Ex Major Sujeet (Substantive Captain!) is suffering but not defeated? I met him today in ICU of GBH American Hospital, Udaipur. A rare lucid interval had flashed in his otherwise tormented and hazy brain so he recognized me and called me out by my pet name, CP. (He is my school senior and old family friend). And then tears rolled from his eyes when I told him that his younger daughter is confident to face SSB at Bhopal next week. He is not able to talk. He will relapse back to his mental state of stupor. But whenever such short lucid gaps appear (if at all they appear) then his two unmarried daughters and his beloved wife will be uppermost in his thoughts. He had a healthy respect for the Armed Forces in spite of his early severance from service and lack of alternative employment offered to him by the Nation. The daughter is determined to face SSB next week. She understands the irony and odds for her beloved father. 8. The exact dates, nature and location of Military Operations have been omitted by me for apparent reasons. Let us pray for Veteran Sujeet Kumar Pancholi and his family.