Abhinandan

Abhinandan was born on 21 June 1983. Abhinandan’s family is from Thirupanamoor, a village about 19 km from Kanchipuram. His father retired as an Air Marshal (OF-8) in the Indian Air Force and his mother is a doctor.

Abhinandan did his early schooling at Sainik Welfare School, Amatavatinagar in Chennai. He graduated from the National Defence Academy, and was commissioned into the combat (fighter) stream of the Indian Air Force as a flying officer on 19 June 2004. He was trained at the IAF centres in Bathinda and Halwara, promoted to flight lieutenant on 19 June 2006, and to squadron leader on 8 July 2010. Abhinandan was a Su-30 MKI fighter pilot before being assigned to the MiG-21 Bison squadron.

On 27 February 2019, Varthaman was flying a MiG-21 as a part of a sortie that was scrambled to intercept an intrusion by Pakistan aircraft into Jammu and Kashmir. In the dogfight that ensued, he crossed into Pakistan territory where he was struck by a missile. Varthaman descended in the village of Horran in Jammu and Kashmir, approximately 7 km from the Line of Control. 

On 28 February 2019, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan announced at a joint sitting of the Parliament of Pakistan that the government had decided to release Abhinandan the next day as a “gesture of peace”. Varthaman crossed the India-Pakistan border at Wagah on 1 March 2019 and were handed back to india.