Indian Airlines flight, IC 814 was hijacked by a terrorist group in Pakistan on December 24, 1999, leaving countless people in horror and a state of shock. The flight, which had taken off from Kathmandu, Nepal, was on its way to New Delhi, and it carried more than 170 passengers who became hostage for over a week. While it's been 25 years, the pain and trauma are still fresh in the hearts of the passengers and their families.
Anubhav Sinha re-played the haunting episode of India's longest hijacked flight again with his web series, IC814: The Kandahar Hijack. For those who don't know, when the real-life flight was hijacked, passengers had no idea about the terrorist's plan. They took the plane from city to city and finally landed in Kandahar. There was only one passenger, Rupin Katyal, who was on board with his newly married wife, and was killed ghastly. Let's find out more about the newly wedded couple, Rupin Katyal and Rachna Katyal!
Honeymoon is one of the most beautiful times spent by a newly-married couple, but Rupin Katyal and Rachna Katyal's honeymoon was turned into a nightmare due to five terrorist plans. The 25-year-old Rupin Katyal was with his wife, Rachna Katyal, and they were returning from their honeymoon trip to Kathmandu. The flight he had boarded, IC 814, was hijacked by five Pakistani terrorists.
All the passengers of IC 814 were ordered to get up and move to economy class. It was a terrifying moment, and there were ten passengers who were told to move to business class. The hijackers had made the plan to make these first ten people their target during the hijack. Rupin Katyal was one of them who was asked to sit in the business class.
However, his wife, Rachna, was still in the economy class with the rest of the passengers. A co-passenger, Kollattu Ravikumar, who was a merchant navy captain for the US-based Navitrek, revealed that Rupin was gruesomely murdered by one of the terrorists on the first day of the hijack. In an interview with Rediff, he shared that Rupin must have disobeyed the hijackers' command as he must be looking for his newly married wife, Rachna. Another motive behind it was to pressurise and scare the Indian government.
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Rupin's body was deplaned when the hijacked flight had landed in Dubai. According to the FIR report, Rupin's body had one stab wound on the abdomen, four wounds on the chest, two wounds on the neck and six stabs on the face. However, Rachna Katyal, who was just 21 years old at that time, had no idea about her husband's unfateful demise. The terrorist essayed as if her husband, Rupin was alive.
Even after returning safely back, Rachna was under the impression that her husband, Rupin, was in the hospital. His kriya was performed without her, and it was much later that she got to know about her husband's demise.
The sad and shocking tale of the then-newly-married couple left the entire nation in tears.
Next Read: Vijay Varma's 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' Faces Hate For Naming Terrorists, 'Bhola' And 'Shankar'
