Major Mustafa Bohara SC

Major Mustafa Bohara hailed from Kheroda village in Udaipur district of Rajasthan and was born on 14 May 1995. Son of Shri Zakiuddin Bohara and Smt Fatima Bohara, he had a sister Alefiya Bohara as his sibling. He completed his primary education at Uday Shiksha Mandir Higher Secondary School in Kheroda and later he studied at St Paul's School in Udaipur.  He was inclined to join the armed forces since his younger days and continued to follow his dream while growing up. Following his passion he got selected for the prestigious NDA after completing his schooling.  He joined the 128th NDA Course and became a part of the November Squadron. 

He later went to IMA Dehradun for further training and was commissioned as a lieutenant.  After serving for some time with his parent unit, he got selected for flying training and was transferred to the Army Aviation Corps. He got trained as a helicopter pilot and completed his basic Army Aviation Course as a Lieutenant.  He excelled in his training and passed out of the Combat Army Aviation School (CATS) in Nashik.  By the year 2022, he had been promoted to the rank of Major and had developed into a professionally competent Helicopter pilot with expertise in various air operations. He had been engaged in the year 2022 and was soon to be married but destiny had something else in store for him. 

Army Air Operation: 21 Oct 2022

During 2022, Major Mustafa Bohara was serving with the 252 Army Aviation Squadron deployed in the North-East. The squadron was operating Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), which was known to be a high-performance helicopter designed for operation over a very wide range of weight, center of gravity, and altitude conditions. Out of the four variants—(ALH Mark 1, Mark 2, Mark 3, and ALH-WSI) available in the Army, Major Mustafa Bohara's Sqn was operating ALH-WSI (Weapons Systems Integrated) versions having a powerful engine, called Shakti, co-developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran of France.  The Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-WSI) was versatile, multi-role, multi-purpose, highly maneuverable, and rugged in construction.  On 21st Oct 2022, Major Mustafa Bohara and Major Vikas Bhambhu as pilots along with 3 other crew members were tasked for an air mission. 

The crew took off from Likabali in the Lower Siang district in their Helicopter to carry out the assigned task as per the operational plan. However as Major Vikas Bhambhu's aircraft reached a forward area around Migging in Upper Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, the Helicopter faced an emergency situation. Arunachal Pradesh was considered to have some of the most difficult terrains in the country, throwing unexpected challenges to the pilots. The mountains and the rapidly changing weather conditions caused a huge number of air mishaps and casualties. At 1028 hours post successful mission completion, 20 Kilometers to the Indo-China border, the helicopter catastrophically caught fire. Both pilots had more than 600 combined flying hours on the Advance Light Helicopter (Weapon Systems Integrated) and over 1800 service flying hours between them. They were experienced pilots with substantial flying experience but faced an unprecedented emergency situation in the aircraft with rapid loss of altitude and extreme variation in attitude. Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara being under extreme physical and mental stress in a life-threatening situation maintained exemplary composure and tried to regain control and fly away from the built-up area and ammunition point of Migging to save precious lives.

They had the liberty to land in an open area near Migging, however, this could have resulted in the loss of civilian lives and damage to ammunition point due to fire. Facing a deadly situation Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara, risking their own lives, steered the aircraft and crash-landed away from the habitat area. Consequently, the aircraft crashed at around 10:43 am and Major Mustafa Bohara and other crew members could not survive the crash. A joint search operation with teams from the army and air force was launched immediately after locating the crash site, which was very remote and extremely challenging in terms of hills with steep gradients and thick jungle. The search and rescue team eventually managed to retrieve the mortal remains of the valiant soldiers. Besides Major Mustafa Bohara, the other martyred soldiers included Major Vikas Bhambhu, Havildar Biresh Sinha, Naik Rohitashva Kumar, and Craftsman Aswin KV. Major Mustafa Bohara was a committed soldier and professionally competent pilot, who at the age of 27 years laid down his life in the service of the nation. Major Mustafa Bohara was given the gallantry award, “Shaurya Chakra” posthumously on 15th Aug 2023, for his commendable courage, and supreme sacrifice. 

Major Mustafa Bohara is survived by his father Shri Zakiuddin Bohara, mother Smt Fatima Bohara, and sister Alefiya Bohara.

The citation for "Shaurya  Chakra" awarded to him reads:

On 21 October 2022, Major Vikas Bhambhu, as a pilot and Major Mustafa Bohara as a Co-pilot were on Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance mission in RUDRA Helicopter along border in Arunachal Pradesh. At 1028 hours post successful mission completion, 20 Kilometer to the border, the helicopter caught fire in a catastrophic manner. This was an unprecedented catastrophic failure. There was rapid loss of altitude and variation in attitude with aircraft in extremities of limits. Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara being in extreme physical and mental stress in a life threatening situation maintained exemplary composure and tried to regain control and fly away from built up area and ammunition point of Migging to save precious lives. Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara had the liberty to land in open area near Migging, however, this could have resulted in loss of civilian lives and damage to ammunition point due to fire. Facing a deadly situation Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara, instead of saving their own life, displayed extraordinary courage and flying skills, steered the aircraft and crash landed away from habitat area making supreme sacrifice in highest traditions of Indian Army.

In recognition of their unfathomable courage, fortitude and professionalism of exceptional order, Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara were awarded “SHAURYA CHAKRA (POSTHUMOUS)”.