Brave Hyderabadi officer who was killed in copter crash

UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announces Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia

Wing Commander Thakur Narsing Bhagat Singh, who hails from Hyderabad, lost his life in a helicopter crash while trying to save hundreds of lives on ground near Ataria, about 70 km from Lucknow, on July 25 at around 5 pm. He was commanding the ill fated aircraft, an advance light helicopter ‘Dhruv’, carrying two officers (including himself) and five other IAF personnel.

TNB, as he was fondly known, was born on January 27, 1974, and was brought up in BHEL Colony in Ramachandrapuram. After completing his class XII from BHEL Higher Secondary School, he joined the prestigious National Defence Academy located at Khadakwasla near Pune. He chose to join the Air Force and was commissioned into the helicopter stream in 1995.

TN Bhagat Singh was actively involved in many important Air Force operations. Notable are Kargil, search operations of Late Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, Operation Rahat at Uttarakhand and flood relief operations in Kurnool.

TNB’s final rites were performed with full military honour at Air Force Bareilly, where tributes were paid by many officials. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav announced Rs 10 lakh and State Bank also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to each of the bereaved families.

As part of his assignments in the Air Force in his younger days, he was posted to frontline helicopter units along the Indo-Tibet border in Sikkim. This is where he met his soul mate Flying Officer Jaya Rawat who was posted to a nearby Air Force Station. They got married shortly thereafter. They were posted together to a helicopter station near Saharanpur next, where they were blessed with a daughter Shanaya in 2005.

His bonding with Hyderabad was further strengthened when he got posted to Air Force Station Hakimpet in June 2008 as a flying instructor. His further assignments included tenure as a flight commander in a frontline helicopter unit flying the state of the art Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv and as an Air Force flying examiner based near Delhi. In December 2013, he was specifically selected to command an ALH unit based at Bareilly. As a Commanding Officer (CO), he always endeavoured to bring out the best in his subordinates by motivating them and by leading from the front, like a true military leader.

As news of the crash spread, a pall of gloom spread in the helicopter unit which he was commanding in Bareilly as well as in Hyderabad, where he was born and had spent much of his childhood.