Awards for pilots of ‘friendly fire’ copter

NEW DELHI: India’s third-highest

gallantry medal

in peacetime,

Shaurya Chakra

, has been awarded to six Army and three police personnel for conspicuous bravery in

counterterror operations

, while the two pilots of the Mi-17 V5 helicopter shot down by “friendly fire” after the Balakot air strikes have been given the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry.

In this year’s Republic Day list of 409 gallantry and other decorations, four Shaurya Chakras have been awarded posthumously to Naib Subedar Sombir Singh from the Army and Challapilla Narasimha Rao, Kamal Kishore and Aman Kumar under the ministry of home affairs.

Squadron Leaders Ninad Anil Mandavgane and Siddharth Vashisht, who were awarded the Vayu Sena Medal posthumously, were flying the ill-fated Mi-17 helicopter for an operational task when it was shot down at Budgam by a SpyDer quick-reaction antiaircraft missile fired by the air defence unit of the Srinagar airbase on February 27.

The four other IAF personnel killed in the accidental “blue on blue” incident, which took place during the time when Indian and Pakistani fighter jets were engaged in the aerial skirmish in the Nowshera sector along the Line of Control, have been awarded “mention-in-despatches”. They are Sergeants Vikrant Sahrawat and Vishal Kumar Pandey and Corporals Pankaj Kumar and Deepak Pandey.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, of course, was awarded the Vir Chakra on Independence Day last year for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 before his MiG-21 was downed on February 27.

Among the Shaurya Chakras, Naib Subedar Sombir Singh (Jat Regiment/Rashtriya Rifles) laid down his life while leading an assault team during a fierce encounter in J&K’s Kulgam district, which led to elimination of three terrorists in February last year.

Lt-Col Jyoti Lama (

11 Gorkha Rifles

) and Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh (Army Air Defence), killed two terrorists each in separate encounters in Manipur while they were posted in the Assam Rifles last year.