Captain Suman Roy Chowdhury dismissed for attack on own copter, day after Balakot strike

A General Court Martial (GCM) in Delhi moment ordered the redundancy of Group Captain Suman Roy Chowdhury, also Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Srinagar Air Force Station, for a bullet attack on a friendly Mi-17 copter on 27 February 2019, leading to the death of six Air Force labor force and a servicewoman.

Air Force officers, still, said the findings of the GCM and the judgment were subject to evidence by the IAF Chief. The incident took place a day after the IAF carried out an airstrike in Balakot, Pakistan, in retribution to the Pulwama terror attack of 14 February 2019, that left 40 CRPF soldiers dead.

Balakot Air Strike in 2019

Around the same time the same day, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman (now Group Captain) was engaged in a duel with a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) aircraft over Nowshera along the Line of Control. During the dogfight, he shot down a PAF F- 16 spurt. His MiG- 21 Bison aircraft was also shot down but he ejected and landed in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. He remained in prison for two days.

On March 20, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had allowed the GCM to gasp the findings against Group Captain Chowdhury but ordered that these mustn’t be given effect till the disposal of the case before it. The High Court incidently is yet to dispose of the case.

Group Captain Chowdhury had prompted the GCM not to do with the pronouncement of the judgment till the case was in the High Court. When communicated, his counsel Captain Sandeep Bansal (retd) said, “The Group Captain moved an operation on April 5 for not pacing with the pronouncement of the judgment till the matter was disposed of by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. But on the advice of Judge Advocate, the GCM progressed ahead. We’ll challenge it before the High Court.”

Wing Commander Shyam Naithani, who was the Senior Air Traffic Control Officer at the time of the incident, is acquitted of four charges and has got a severe rebuke for one charge. Group Captain Chowdhury is held shamefaced on five of the nine charges. He’s held shamefaced of not adhering the general order issued by Air Headquarters, dated July 14, 2017, which needed all aircraft operating north of latitude 3200 N to operate with Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) on.

He permitted Mi-17 to get airborne from Srinagar without the IFF on. He’s held shamefaced of assigning an inbound flying object to the bullet unit at 1010 am on February 27, 2019, at 23 km from the Srinagar base for engagement by the Mission Commander, Command and Control Unit of 2258 Squadron.

As a consequence, the assigned flying target, which actually was friendly helicopter Mi-17, was shot down by a Spyder bullet at 1014 am. The mishap caused a loss of Rs133.31 crore to the state.

Those who failed included aviators Squadron Leader S Vashisht and Squadron Leader Ninand M, Sergeant VK Pandey, Sergeant Vikrant Sahrawat, Corporal Pankaj Kumar, Corporal D Pandey, and Kifayat Hussain Ganie, a servicewoman on the ground and occupant of Budgam quarter. He’s held shamefaced of failure to cover the position of the friendly helicopter in violation to the duties of the Terminal Weapon Director (TWD) contained in bribes.

Held guilty on several counts

Gp Capt Suman Roy Chowdhury, Chief Operations Officer at Srinagar IAF station at time of incident, held guilty of:

• Not obeying order requiring aircraft to operate with Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) on; permitted Mi-17 (which was shot down) to get airborne from Srinagar without IFF on
• On Feb 27, 2019, assigned an inbound flying object to the missile unit at 10.10 am 23 km from the Srinagar base
• As a consequence, the assigned target (a friendly copter Mi-17) was shot down by Spyder missile at 10.14 am
• n Mishap caused Rs 133.31 cr loss to state; many lives lost

2 pilots among 7 killed in 2019 incident

• The missile attack on friendly Mi-17 copter took place on Feb 27, 2019
• It resulted in the death of six Indian Air Force men and a Budgam civilian
• The dead included Squadron Leaders S Vashisht and Ninand M (both pilots), Sergeants VK Pandey and Vikrant Sahrawat, Corporals Pankaj Kumar and D Pandey and Kifayat Hussain Ganie, a civilian.