JK News Today
Srinagar , April 10: Group Captain Suman Roy Choudhary of IAF has been held guilty of firing at IAF’s own chopper and a General Court Martial has ordered his dismissal from service. The GCM pronounced this verdict in New Delhi on Tuesday morning .
On February 27, 2019, a chopper of the Indian Airforce was shot down in Budgam district of Kashmir , a day after the Balakot strikes by the IAF, six IAF personnel and a civilian were killed in the incident.
Group Captain Choudhary was the Chief Operations Officer ( GCO) of Srinagar Airforce Station . He has been found guilty for a missile attack on a friendly MI-17 helicopter on February 27, 2019.
These were the days of high tension following the aerial strikes in Balakot , Pakistan , which was carried out on February 26, 2019 , in retaliation to the Pulwama terror attack of February 14, 2019, in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed . The terror attack was carried out by terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad through its activist Adil Dar, who had driven and rammed an explosive filled van into the CRPF convoy in Lethpora, Pulwama. The incident had shaken the whole nation .
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
