IAF begins probe in MiG-21 crash

IAF begins probe in MiG-21 crash
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 11
The IAF authorities today launched a probe to ascertain the cause of the MiG-21 crash at Bhalaiana village in Muktsar on Thursday, in which Flight Lieutenant Manu Akhouri was killed on the spot.
Various teams from the different wings of the IAF landed here but they opted to carry out the investigation in a discreet way. Despite much persuasion, none of the officials present disclosed details of the ongoing probe.
After removing the wreckage of the fighter jet, the Bathinda-Muktsar road was opened for traffic. Almost every vehicle slowed down for a look at the aircraft debris lying on the roadside but the police and IAF authorities present there did not allow disruption of traffic.
When contacted, the district administrations of Bathinda and Muktsar officials informed that the teams had come from Delhi. The officials had been technically investigating the parts of the jet.
According to sources in Air Force Station, Bhisiana (Bathinda), Manu was the only son of Col (retd) Sanjay Akhouri of Daltonganj in Jharkhand.
SHO Kot Bhai police station, Davinder Singh said that the body was handed over to the medical wing of the IAF, where the postmortem was supposed to be conducted today. The father of the deceased had reached here and would take the body to the native village by Saturday.
Meanwhile, the social networking site of which Manu Akhouri was a member, was flooded with messages from his friends, expressing grief and praying for peace to his soul.
Manu Akhouri had 213 friends. People writing on his scrapbook have termed him a martyr who lost his life in an attempt to save the population of Bhalaiana village.
Referred to as flyboy by his friends, in his 28 photos uploaded on the social networking site,, he could be seen in various places, including Scotland and London.
Writing a testimonial, one of his friends, Palak Shekhawat of Chandigarh, had earlier described him as unbelievably believable. She further writes, "You just need to tell him what has been troubling you and the problem will vanish as it had never been there. Procrastination is beyond him, he believes in getting things done."