Mi-17 pilots killed by friendly fire get gallantry awards

NEWDELHI: Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter pilots killed by friendly fire in Kashmir a day after the February 26 Balakot air strikes are among 409 gallantry awardees and other military honorees on a list approved by the President on the eve of the 71st Republic Day.

Squadron Leaders Ninad Anil Mandavgane and Siddharth Vashisht, whose Mi-17 helicopter was brought down by friendly fire in Kashmir’s Budgam on February 27, a day after the IAF bombed terror camps in Pakistan, will both be posthumously awarded the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry. All six IAF personnel on board the Mi-17 helicopter were killed. The remaining four have been awarded ‘Mentionedin-Despatches’ by the President.

Nine security forces personnel will be awarded the Shaurya Chakra — the country’s third highest peacetime gallantry award — for outstanding gallantry during a string of operations. Four of these awards -- to soldier Naib Subedar Sombir, and the three policemen, Challapilla Narasimha Rao, Kamal Kishore and Aman Kumar — will be given posthumously.

Sombir was part of an assault team of a Rashtriya Rifles battalion that planned and executed an operation in which three terrorists were killed in J&K last February.

The other Shaurya Chakra awardees from the Indian Army are Lt Colonel Jyoti Lama, Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh, Naib Subedar Narender Singh, Naik Naresh Kumar and Sepoy Karmdeo Oraon.

The army credited Lama with creating a vibrant intelligence network in Manipur that led to 14 wanted terrorists being apprehended, and also killing two terrorists in a well-planned operation in July 2019.

Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh’s citation says his courage and leadership resulted in the killing of two terrorists in Manipur last March.