Have lessons from the accidental killing of General Bipin Rawat been learnt? Final Report of Court of Inquiry is awaited

Had General Bipin Rawat, India's first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Indian Armed Forces from January 2020 until his death in a mysterious helicopter crash on December 8, 2021 been alive, he would have been 67 years old. He was killed along with Madhulika, his wife and members of his staff were amongst 10 passengers and 4 crew members aboard an Indian Air Force Mil Mi-17 V 5 helicopter flight en route from the Sulur Air Force Base to the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu where General Rawat was to deliver a lecture. At around 12:10 p.m. local time, the aircraft crashed near a residential colony of private tea estate employees on the outskirts of the hamlet of Nanjappachatiram, Bandishola panchayat, in the Katteri-Nanchappanchathram area of Coonoor taluk, Nilgiris. The crash site was 10 kilometres from the flight's intended destination. 

The death of General Rawat, his wife and 11 others was confirmed by the Indian Air Force (IAF). On December 10, 2021, IAF tweeted saying, "IAF has constituted a tri-service Court of Inquiry to investigate the cause of the tragic helicopter accident on 08 Dec 21. The inquiry would be completed expeditiously & facts brought out. Till then, to respect the dignity of the deceased, uninformed speculation may be avoided." The tri-services inquiry is headed by Manvendra Singh, the IAF’s Air Officer Training Command Air Marshal, one of its most experienced helicopter pilots with over 6,600 hours of flying on various types. A statement in  this regard was made by Rajnath Singh, the defence minister in both houses of parliament on December 9, 2021. The Opposition suspended its protests in Parliament for one day as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the crash. General Rawat's liaison officer, Group Captain Varun Singh initially survived the incident, but died on December 15, 2021.

On December 19, 2021, Indian Defence News published a news report entitled "IAF Chief Assures 'Very Very Fair' Inquiry Into CDS Chopper Crash Case". The reports reads: "Assuring that the court of inquiry into the CDS chopper crash case would be a "very very fair process", Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari on Saturday said the probe team's mandate is to investigate every single angle and aspect of the accident and come out with findings and recommendations." He was speaking after the Air Force Combined Graduation Parade at the academy in Dundigal, Tamil Nadu. He said,"Let me assure you that it is a very very fair process, this entire Court of Inquiry... I would not like to pre-empt any findings of the court of inquiry as it is a thorough process. It is a mandate to investigate every single angle and look into every single aspect of what could have gone wrong and come out with suitable recommendations and findings.

The 121-page long report of the Radha Mohan Singh headed 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence dated December 17, 2024 provided details about 34 IAF Aircraft accidents in recent years. During 2017-18, there were 8 accidents, during 2018-19, there were 11 accidents, during 2019-20, there were 3 accidents, during 2020-21, there were 3 accidents and during 2021-22, there were 9 accidents. The accidents happened due to Foreign object Damage, Technical Defect, Human Error (Servicing), Human Error (Aircrew) and Bird Strike. The accident dated October 21, 2021 with reference to Mirage aircraft was reported to be under investigation. The accident dated June 23, 2021 with reference to Kiran aircraft was due to Foreign object Damage. The Mi-17 aircraft accident dated on December 8, 2021 which killed 14 persons including General Rawat, his wife, Brigadier L.S. Lidder, Lt. Col. Harjinder Singh and Group Captain Varun Singh has been attributed to the reason of Human Error (Aircrew). Strangely, the parliament report did not mention the name of General Rawat despite the fact that his accident was one of the 34 accidents which were subjected to inquiries. 

Significantly, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) comprising of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence, Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation, Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs and Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs met on the evening of the disaster to decide on a further course of action. Reacting to the monumental loss due to the horrific accident, on December 10, 2021, Shobhaa De, the author wrote, "Yes, there will be an IAF inquiry. It will be deemed “confidential”, “sensitive” and soon the public will forget the ghastly incident which robbed us of a fine military leader, whose unconventional views did not sit well with those interested in maintaining the status quo. Without doubt, there is egg on our face, no matter what explanations are put forward to deconstruct the accident. Foreign agencies are already in overdrive, piecing together the missing links of the crash and coming up with conspiracy theories. This is dangerous and counter-productive in an environment which is hyper-sensitive and charged. Our security can’t be compromised, no matter how uncomfortable the facts may be."

IAF gave a detailed presentation tri-services inquiry report to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the Mi-17 chopper crash on 8 December that led to the death of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 12 other military personnel, informed sources on January 5, 2022. The tri-services probe report has given its findings on reasons behind the crash and made recommendations for the future chopper operations for flying VIPs. IAF's Chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and inquiry committee chief Air Marshal Manvendra Singh were there to present the report to the defence minister.

According to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) press statement entitled "PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF COI: HELICOPTER ACCIDENT ON 08 DEC 2021" issued by Press Information Bureau on January 14, 2022 reads: "The Tri-Services Court of Inquiry into the Mi-17 V5 accident on 08 Dec 21 has submitted its preliminary findings. The inquiry team analysed the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder besides questioning all available witnesses to determine the most probable cause of the accident. The Court of Inquiry has ruled out mechanical failure, sabotage or negligence as a cause of the accident. The accident was a result of entry into clouds due to unexpected change in weather conditions in the valley. This led to spatial disorientation of the pilot resulting in Controlled Flight into Terrain. Based on its findings, the Court of Inquiry has made certain recommendations which are being reviewed." Controlled Flight into Terrain is defined as an unintentional collision with terrain-the ground, a mountain, a body of water, or an obstacle-while an aircraft is under positive control. The findings of the final report of the Tri-Services Court of Inquiry does not appear to be in public domain.

Notably, the Russian-built Mil Mi-17 medium-lift helicopter was one of the first batch of 80 of its type built for the IAF under the terms of a 2008 contract. It was delivered to the IAF in 2011 and inducted into service in 2012. The helicopter had flown over 26 hours without incident since its most recent servicing. Its crew included Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, the commanding officer of 109 Helicopter Unit, was the pilot in command, with co-pilot Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh and two junior warrant officers comprising the rest of the crew.

Tamil Nadu police had kept the probe pending because it waited for a conclusive report about what led to the crash and the weather clearance report issued on December 8, 2021, and the data from the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder. In November 2023, it announced that it has dropped further action with regard to the FIR registered on December 9, 2021 under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). ADSP Muthumanikam was appointed as the investigation officer. Director General of Police, C Sylendra Babu presided over a meeting here on the mishap and probe related to it. Senior police and forensic officials participated in the high level meeting and had examined some 26 witnesses. It was reported that two minor accidents were reported when the bodies of the crash victims were being transported to Coimbatore, from where they would be flown to New Delhi. In one of the incidents in Karamadai, on the outskirts of Coimbatore, an ambulance carrying the body of one of the deceased hit another moving in the front. As a result, the vehicle got stuck and the mortal remains were shifted to another ambulance to be taken to the Sulur Air base in the city for the onward journey to the national capital. A police vehicle, escorting the ambulances carrying the bodies, was involved in an accident near Barliar. A few policemen sustained minor injuries.

Coincidentally, on July 18, 2016, Anil Madhav Dave, Union Environment Minister had informed the Rajya Sabha in his written reply about "a type of weapon called High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Programme" (HAARP), which strikes the upper atmosphere with a focussed and steerable electromagnetic beam”. He was replying to a question posed by Sukhendu Sekhar Roy Roy, the MP from West Bengal who had asked whether Government is aware of High Frequency Active Auroral Research Programme (HAARP)". The final report of the Court of Inquiry may throw light on the possibility of use of HAARP like weapons to create unpredictable weather or cloud or a focused and steerable electromagnetic beam the upper atmosphere because it has mandate to investigate every single angle and every single aspect of what could have gone wrong. The lessons from the accidental killing of General Bipin Rawat  must be learnt in right earnest.