Commandos weren’t trained in anti-hijacking ops: Punjab ex-top cop on not storming IC 814

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 31

A web series on the hijacking of Indian Airlines plane IC 814 on December 24, 1999, has again raised some uncomfortable questions, the primary among them: Why did Punjab Police commandos not storm the hijacked plane that had landed at the Amritsar Airport for refuelling?

Released on Friday, the series point at the failure of Central agencies, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing, and the ‘inability’ of the Punjab Police to take on the hijackers. ‘It would have been futile,’ asserts the then DGP, Sarabjit Singh.

Speaking to The Tribune on the phone from New Delhi today, he said he had dispatched the commandos to the airport in anticipation of the plane landing in Amritsar, but there was a high chance that any action would have caused many casualties.

Didn’t know how to access plane

The commandos only had AK-47 rifles, and no other equipment to enter the plane. We had no information about the number of hijackers, how to spot them, how to access the plane…. I asked the Crisis Management Group whom should we fire at! —Sarabjit Singh, A Former DGP

‘I had immediately dispatched my men on hearing the news on the television. The Crisis Management Group (CMG) informed me much later,’ he recollected. ‘When IB Director Shyamal Datta called me, I told him we were ready but there would likely be heavy casualties.’ Defending his force, Sarabjit Singh says his men were raring to go, but they had no training in anti-hijacking operations. ‘All they had was AK-47 rifles; and no other equipment to enter the plane. We had no information about the number of hijackers, how to spot them, and most importantly, how to access the plane,” he said.

The Punjab Police was criticised for inaction, but Datta, too, had made it clear that there should be no casualties. It was a tough call. ‘The plane was obviously higher from the ground. The hijackers had vantage point. They also had the cover of passengers. I asked the CMG whom should we fire at?’ he said.

The former DGP said the plane was in Amritsar for only about 45 minutes that evening. ‘That, too, because we had delayed the refuelling. There was no oil tanker at the airport as no flight was due to land or take off. It took 35 minutes for it to get to the runway. Two commandos had taken position on the tanker, but the hijackers forced the pilot, Capt Devi Sharan, to take off,’ he said.

‘They were getting restless and slit the throat of a passenger, Rupan Katyal. The plane was parked in the middle of the runway at the time. We did not believe that the hijackers had killed someone. However, Capt Devi Sharan said they were killing passengers and that he must take off. The plane could take to the air from the middle of the runway only because of his skill,’ he said.

It was a few weeks after the incident that the DGP requested the Union Home Ministry to arrange for anti-hijacking training for the Punjab Police and police forces of other states, but ‘it was declined, claiming that Punjab wanted to raise its own force on the lines of the National Security Guard (NSG)’, he said.