Abhinandan gets Vir Chakra, Major Dhoundiyal Shaurya Chakra posthumously

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ While Indian Air Force ace pilot Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman was accorded the Vir Chakra, Army Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, who was killed in the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack, was accorded the Shaurya Chakra (posthumously) by President Ram Nath Kovind in an investiture ceremony on Monday.

Abhinandan has been accorded the Vir Chakra for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft during aerial combat on February 27, 2019, a day after the Balakot airstrike. In the process, he flew over Pakistan occupied Kashmir and his MiG-21 was hit and he had to eject over the territory controlled by the enemy.

He was then taken into custody by the Pakistan Army. The Pakistan Army was forced to release him due to the extensive pressure exerted by the Indian side along with international intervention into the matter. Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s wife Lieutenant Nitika Kaul and mother Saroj Dhoundiyal received his Shaurya Chakra. He has been accorded the Shaurya Chakra for his role in an operation where five terrorists were eliminated and 200 kg explosive material was recovered.

He lost his life in the February 2019 encounter with Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. President Kovind also conferred the Shaurya Chakra gallantry award to Major Maheshkumar Bhure, an alumnus of Sainik School Satara, who led an operation in which six top terrorist commanders were killed.