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Can’t divulge why we didn’t come to INS Khukri’s rescue: Kirpan Capt
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

The Khukri Files

Khukri sank off the coast of Diu on December 9, 1971, after being torpedoed by a Pak submarine, killing 18 officers & 176 sailors. INS Kirpan, which was close by when the attack took place, instead of coming to Khukri’s rescue, allegedly fled to safety. In December last year, Chanchal Singh Gill, a Khukri survivor, petitioned the Chandigarh Bench of the AFT seeking withdrawal of gallantry awards from officers of Kirpan. Gill has also sought correction of the naval history related to Khukri saying it was the Indian Navy’s “greatest cover up”. The AFT has given notice to the Defence Ministry seeking its reply before March 25.

Bangalore, January 9
Thirty-nine years after Indian Navy frigate INS Khukri was sunk by a Pakistani submarine during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the incident has returned to haunt the Captain of the ship that was supposed to come to Khukri’s rescue but allegedly fled to safety instead.

Rishi Raj Sood, captain of INS Kirpan - which was accompanying Khukri but disappeared as PNS Hangor torpedoed the latter - did not deny that his ship didn’t come to help when Khukri sank off the coast of Diu on December 9, 1971.

“It is classified information. I cannot divulge it to you”, Sood, who now lives in Bangalore, told this reporter when asked why he did not join the battle when Hangor had struck Khukri.

“We all know what to do when there is an attack. There is a reason why Kirpan did not come to the rescue of Khukri. The day the Naval HQs allows me to divulge the reason, I shall myself write an article on it”, he said.

The issue resurrected when Chanchal Singh Gill, a Khukri survivor, petitioned the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) last month seeking withdrawal of gallantry awards given to officers of Kirpan. Gill, who was on duty as artificer apprentice in Khukri on the fateful night of December 9, also sought correction of the naval history related to Khukri saying it was the Indian Navy’s “greatest cover up”. The AFT has now given notice to the Defence Ministry asking it to file its reply before March 25.

“They had no business getting the gallantry awards”, Admiral OS Dawson (retd), former Chief of Naval Staff, who was director of naval operations at the time of the 1971 war, told this reporter. Dawson, who lives in Bangalore, said in the humdrum of war Kirpan’s flight from the battle scene was not given due attention.

A book by Major General Ian Cardozo (retd) on the sinking of Khukri contains some poignant accounts given by the survivors of the drowned frigate.

“We were hoping that Kirpan, our sister ship would come to rescue us but we saw her sailing away from the area”, Commander Manu Sharma, a survivor of Khukri, has been quoted by Cardozo as having said.

“An early rescue was what everyone hoped for. We thought that at least INS Kirpan would send boat for our rescue, but no rescue boat came from INS Kirpan” Lt Commander SK Basu, who was aboard Khukri and survived the Pakistani attack, told Cardozo.

The survivors paid glowing tributes to Mahendra Nath Mulla, Captain of Khukri. Mulla refused to abandon Khukri and went down with the ship after having given his life jacket to a young sailor. Sadly, this great military hero, who sacrificed his life in adherence to the noblest of naval tradition, has been hardly remembered by the nation.

Sood perhaps could have saved the lives of at least some of the 194 people (18 officers and 176 sailors) who died in the attack on Khukri. He continues to defend himself saying that in no way he can disclose the secret behind his questionable action.