IAF investigating if air marshal’s ‘rebuke’ drove officer to suicide
CHINA INDIA
Speaking to HT, Deo said he hadn’t done anything wrong and high shooting standards were the service’s requirement and not his own.
“As a fighter pilot, I am supposed to be aggressive but there was no aggression that day,” Deo said, adding the IAF probe would find out the truth.
“But you are required to fire properly. I gave him tips on firing and asked him to practice with Garud commandos,” he said, referring to the IAF’s elite commando unit.
Security has been scaled up at air bases following a deadly militant attack on an air station in Pathankot in January, and such drills are now conducted frequently at different military bases.
Tiwari’s father-in-law CS Mishra told HT the family could speak on the matter at a later stage if it saw it necessary.
“We are still grieving and tied up with rituals. My daughter is not in a frame of mind to speak about it right now,” he said.
Senior IAF officers said there were no “major observations” by Deo on the security drill. The officers said the overall performance of the team led by Tiwari was “good” but he needed to improve his standards and was told to do so.
They said there was “no singling out” of Tiwari and three officers were asked to improve “practical firing,” with one of them being Deo’s own staff officer.
Deo too stressed Tiwari wasn’t “admonished by any stretch of imagination” and was only asked to pull up his socks.