RAW Officer Was On Board The Hijacked IC-814, Mastermind Mullah Omar Was Aware of This: Sources | EXCLUSIVE

The IC-814 hijacking of 1999 is back in the news with a Netflix series based on the events. Sources in the Indian government have told CNN-News18 that the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was carrying a RAW officer.

According to sources, the RAW officer, with 13 years of service in the IPS, was on board the hijacked flight. Sources say the Kandahar hijack mastermind Mullah Omar possibly knew about this officer but deliberately did not harm him, as was confirmed by the terrorist’s son Mullah Yaqoob.

Sources said that immediately after the hijack, the RAW officer came to know about the hijacking because of sudden movement of some passengers towards the cockpit. Following this, he immediately concealed his identity card under one of the seats on the flight and tried to behave normal.

He knew he could be a big negotiation point for hijackers and that his presence could create a major problem for the government of India.

At one stage, the Taliban was aware of this and when CNN-News18 interviewed Mullah Yaqoob in Kabul, he left after finishing it but called the team back at the same place. He returned after 30 minutes and said, “We love Indians and my father Mullah Omar never harmed IC-814 and your Intelligence officer who was inside.” Yaqoob made the statement, laughed and went back again.

The Fateful Flight: IC-814’s Hijacking Timeline

On December 24, 1999, five masked men hijacked the aircraft — IC 814 — 40 minutes after it took off from the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu for New Delhi. The hijackers forced the captain of the flight — Devi Sharan — to fly the plane into Pakistani airspace, where he did not receive clearance to land. The plane then landed in Amritsar, with barely 10 minutes worth of fuel left.

After refuelling the plane, the hijackers forced the pilot to fly the plane to Lahore, where the pilot made a desperate landing despite not getting permission from Pakistan’s ATC, which turned off all lights and navigational aids at the airport.

But at the last moment, they were given permission and it was here that they refuelled and then left for Dubai. After being denied permission, the flight landed at the Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE. The hijackers released 27 of the 176 passengers on board, including the body of 25-year-old Rupin Katyal, who had been fatally stabbed by the terrorists.

After this, the plane landed at Taliban-controlled Afghanistan’s Kandahar airport. It was here that the hijackers negotiated with the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The hijack ended on December 30 with the release of all the hostages for three terrorists — Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Masood Azhar, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar.