MiG-27 Ejection, Then Gun In Mouth: Kargil War Hero Recounts Capture In Pak

Kargil: 

“Twenty five years is a very long time, but even now, that guy’s eyes and face are clear in my mind. He shoved the barrel of his AK-47 in my mouth. I was looking at his trigger finger, will he pull it or not?”

Group Captain K Nachiketa Rao (retd) was a fighter pilot during the Kargil War when an engine failure forced him to eject from a MiG-27 aircraft. Soon after, he was captured by Pakistani forces and tortured for days before he was handed over to Indian authorities.

A quarter of a century later, as NDTV revisits the bravery and sacrifices by Indian soldiers during Kargil War, he recounts, for the first time, what went through his mind in those chilling moments in a crashing plane, and then behind enemy lines. This tale of torture, during which he was denied food, sleep and beaten up in a systemic effort to make him speak, underlines the heroism behind India’s victory in the Kargil war.

Then a flight lieutenant, K Nachiketa Rao said he had taken off with three other fighter pilots from Srinagar on that morning that would change his life.

“We became airborne from Srinagar… and the target was at a place called Munthu Dhalo. There was a huge enemy logistics hub there. We got airborne in a set of four aeroplanes. Me and my leader, we were firing rockets. After the rocket attack, I had an engine failure. A MiG 27 is a single engine aeroplane, and in case of an engine failure, I followed the relight process, but since the (ground) altitude was very high, I ran out of height. Once I saw the hills gushing towards my aeroplane, I had no option but to eject,” he said, adding that at the time, he was flying at an altitude of more than 15,000 feet. “It was a fortunate decision because within a few seconds, as soon as I got my senses back, I could see the airplane crashing onto the hillside. I could have gone with that,” he said.