Flight Lt. Kambampati Nachiketa Rao

This brave IAF officer had been born in the year of 1973 on 31st may. He had been a part of the Kargil war and had been brave enough to face the Pakistani custody when his aircraft was shot down by a Pakistani patrol.

He was captured on 27th may, 1999 by a patrol led by Rao Tahseen Ali in Kashmir. The same patrol had shot down his MiG-27L aircraft. Rao had ejected from the aircraft and had landed straight into Pakistani custody. He had been the first prisoner of war during the Kargil conflict. He had been a part of the No.9 Squadron which had been assigned to the duty of the strike in the Batalik sector.

His own aircraft had been fitted with 30mm cannons and he was loaded with 80mm rockets for this strike. It was due to a flame out in his aircraft which had forced him to eject. No matter how much he had tried, he couldn’t restart the engines after the flame out. The soldiers of the Pakistani army, who had found him, had only thought of him to be an enemy soldier. They had attacked him in every way possible, with an intention to kill probably. He was only saved by another higher ranking Pakistani officer who was mature enough to realise that officer Nachiketa was now their prisoner and a valuable one too, at that.

Even though Rao was saved from being killed that instant, this incident had marked the beginning of his pain. He had been first taken to an undisclosed place in Batalik itself before he was transported to Skardu through a helicopter. He was handed over to one of the high ranking officer of the Pakistani air force, Group Captain Kaiser Tufail. Our flight Lt. was in their custody for eight days straight. His life had been made so hellish that he had said “death would have been an easier solution” for him during that time. He had been repatriated to India on 3rd June 1999.

Rao, who was born to Sri. K. R. K. Sastry and Smt. K. Laxmi, still faces back problems to this day due to the sudden and awkward parachuting during the Kargil war.

For his gallantry and his exceptional services, he had been awarded multiples medals among which lay the Vayusena medal, operation Vijay star and operation Vijay medal.

India will never forget the bravery that Nachiketa Rao had shown in the face of danger. His gallantry would live on through the history of our pages.

Cadet Dolan Banerjee

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