Hijackers stabbed man to show they meant business: Government adviser who was PMO at the time, on IC 814 Amid Row

While debate continues over the factual depictions in “IC 814: The Kidnapping of Kandahar,” an Anubhav Sinha-directed show released on Netflix this weekend, Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, provided details about X. When the incident took place, Gupta was serving as OSD to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The show, based on the hijacking of Air India Flight 814 or IC 814 by terrorists, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Arvind Swamy and Dia Mirza, sparked controversy on social media on Sunday with many pointing out that Drama non-Muslim names of hijackers in the show and seeking a boycott. Another issue raised was the compassion shown by one of the hijackers.

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For example, one of the guys, codenamed “Burger,” told the flight attendants to take care of themselves. The footage of the hijackers and the hijackees playing antakshali was also seen as a false projection.

The I&B Ministry on Monday summoned Netflix representatives to explain why the show should not be suspended and why the OTT platform should not face action.

“When IC814 was hijacked, I was serving in the Prime Minister’s Office as a member of Prime Minister AB Vajpayee’s OSD and National Security Advisory Council (working closely with NSA Brajesh Mishra). I had a front row view of the incidents related to the hijack and their resolution. This is What happened. Everything else is fiction,” Gupta wrote, adding that some details affecting national security were not mentioned and included a link to a blog post.

“The Kathmandu-Delhi flight was hijacked by five hijackers (later identified as Bahawalpur resident Ibrahim Attal, Karachi resident Shahid Akhtar Saeed, Karachi resident Gulshan I Sunny Ahmed Qazi, a resident of Karachi Defense Area, Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, a resident of Karachi) Shakir, a resident of Akhtar Colony and Sukkur City, Karachi) PM 5:20; there were 189 passengers and crew on board; the plane was bound for Lahore,” the blog post read, adding, “…the hijackers, anticipating the commando move, first stabbed Rubin, a passenger Rupin Katyal (who went to Kathmandu with his new wife for their honeymoon; had they not extended their stay a few days, they would not have taken the ill-fated flight) to show they were serious and then forced the pilot to fly from Afghanistan Mlizar took off.

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The blog post reads: “The hijackers want the release of 36 terrorists held in various prisons in India, otherwise they will blow up the plane and the hostages.”

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although the hijackers were from Pakistani Muslims, their code names were Berg, Shankar, Bora and Doctor.