Meet Pilot Nachiketa - The Kargil Hero Who Was Captured And Tortured By Pakistan, But Continues To Fly Today

Wars forge heroes out of soldiers and the Kargil war was no different. Heroes were forged, and while some are sung enough, many are still unsung. Captain Kambampati Nichiketa, a Flying Lieutenant back then in 1999, was one of the many heroes of Kargil who remained mostly unsung.

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No, he didn't die while serving the mother. Instead he lived on, survived the torture of Pakistanis as a Prisoner of War (PoW), returned to India, got the Vayusena medal, and kept doing what he does best - flying planes for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

But Captain Nishiketa doesn't fly fighter jets anymore. Now he flies transport aircraft. But the thought of the battle that he fought on the mountains of Kargil still makes him feel that he did his bit for his motherland.

This is his story.

When Nachiketa launched offensive and his Jet's engine failed

Nachiketa was one of the pilots from No.9 Squadron of IAF which took part in the operation launched in Batalik sector on 26 May 1999. Flying a MiG-27 armed with 80mm rockets, Nachiketa carried out an attack on enemy camps. But during the second attack he launched at an excess of 17,000 feet, and the engine of his plane flamed out. In mid air, he tried to relight, but after initial success, the attempt failed and the plane headed towards a crash in the mountains.

NDTV

Nachiketa was forced to eject. Once on the ground, he knew that the Pakistanis would be coming to nab him.

Just half an hour later, he was ambushed by Pakistani soldiers, but not before he unloaded an entire magazine of bullets at them. But once his ammunition ended, it was a matter of time before he was caught only to be tortured.

Newsgram

The torture

Once captured, Nachiketa was taken to one of the Pakistani bases and was tortured ruthlessly before he was rescued by a senior official who asked the Jawans to back off and behaved like a gentleman. Nachiketa often recalls that they used to have tea together while having a discussion about family and other important issues.

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Return to India

On 3 June 1999, Nachiketa was repatriated to India after eight days of grueling. He was handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Pakistan and subsequently was repatriated over the Indian border checkpost at Wagah.

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