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IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack Row: Former R&AW Chief denies receiving any warning as shown in series; points out multiple inaccuracies
Former R&AW Chief AS Dulat has pointed out several inaccuracies in the recently released IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack including the fact that they received a warning as shown in the Netflix series.
Anubhav Sinha’s recently released series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is stirring fresh controversy with every passing day. While it all started with people taking offense at renaming of hijackers, it is now being called out for its inaccuracy. The former R&AW Chief AS Dulat and former special secretary R&AW Anand Arni recently pointed out several inaccuracies shown in the Netflix series.
For the unversed, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is a retelling of the December 24, 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines IC-814 aircraft by five terrorists just 40 minutes after the plane took off from Kathmandu for Delhi. At least 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days before eventually forcing the Indian government to agree to their demands.
Just to be clear, the show is not a documentary but is based on Flight Into Fear The Captain's Story by Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury. Because IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack makers have taken account from a book, Dulat feels that several facts have flipped including the claims that Indian intelligence received information about this potential hijack.
“We had no warning at all,” told Dulat to The Print refuting what was depicted on the show. “There was no reason for the station head to sit on information like this. This is all just imagination,” he added when Anand detailed how there are 100 prompts spiking out from the intelligence network but no active and direct warnings of a possible hijack were given.
The Netflix show also showed how the agency got the information from the media while Anand claimed that news arrived at everyone simultaneously. The former special secretary also asserted that a control room was set up almost immediately. Dulat added, “An officer rushed in and asked me to come to the Crisis Management Group (CMG) meeting. I left immediately, and a few joined later. They were all there within 20 minutes, that’s when the CMG started functioning.”
The duo then also denied knowing about the RDX smuggling via that aircraft as shown in the series while acknowledging, “Yes, the hijacked aircraft with the relief crew wasn’t getting permission to leave, and it was said that the Taliban brought their trucks, and they were looking for a red suitcase. Even the Joint Managing Director of Air India said that they were looking for something. But we don’t know what they were actually looking for,” signed off Anand.
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