IC814 survivor: Hijackers were called Bhola, Shankar

Wed, 04 September 2024

14:21

Pooja Kataria, a survivor of the hijacking

Following Netflix's 'IC 814' controversy, Pooja Kataria, a survivor of the IC-814 Kandahar hijacking says: "There were 5 terrorists on board the aircraft. Half an hour after the flight took off the terrorists declared that the flight was hijacked. We were nervous. We were asked to keep our heads down. We didn't even know we were in Kandahar. People were having panic attacks, so one of the terrorists named 'Burger', who had a friendly approach, helped people, and made them play 'Antakshari'.

"A terrorist called 'Doctor' gave a lot of speeches on converting to Islam. The other terrorists had code names called 'Bhola' & 'Shankar'. They were calling each other that. The series was made for entertainment purposes, I don't know why people are getting offended...Maybe the (Indian) govt could have tried a commando attack on the aircraft in Amritsar, then then it could not have flown outside India."

Under pressure from the government, Netflix India on Tuesday said it has included the real and code names of the hijackers of the Indian Airlines aircraft depicted in the web series IC814: The Kandahar Hijack.

The web series had triggered a row after a section of viewers objected to the humane projection of terrorists and reference to their Hindu code names, contending that distortion of real identities of hijackers amounted to misrepresentation of historical events.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju summoned the Netflix India's contend head, Monika Shergill, to convey the government's strong disapproval of the depiction of certain elements in the web series.

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