He felt blessed to fly in Kedarnath: Family of deceased chopper pilot

Mumbai: An air of shock and disbelief pervaded the Yari Road home of Colonel (Retd) Anil Singh on Tuesday evening. Just hours earlier, Singh was killed at the age of 57 while piloting the ill-fated chopper that crashed in Kedarnath. Singh, a National Defence Academy graduate of 1967, was known to friends and family as ‘Ansi’, which was also his flying name.

“I spoke to him yesterday at 5:46pm. We chatted for about 15 minutes about mundane things. Our daughter hasn’t been feeling very well, and he was inquiring about her health,” said Singh’s wife, Shirin Anandita (52) a writer and Grammy-nominated lyricist.

Anandita remembers her husband as a distinguished army man and thorough gentleman, whose true passion was flying. “He was very regimented, very disciplined. And he loved his work. He always rose to the occasion,” she said, recalling how, in November 2021, her late husband assisted the Gadchiroli police in airlifting casualties from a Maoist-infested region amid onslaughts of gunfire during an encounter that claimed the lives of 26 rebels.

A letter of commendation addressed to Singh by Ankit Goyal, the Gadchiroli superintendent of police, is framed on a wall in the house. “The leadership and motivation you provided during the contingency was infectious and helped keep the morale of the force higher. I hereby place on record my heartfelt appreciation to you and your entire team... for the sincere efforts put in during the said operation,” the letter reads.

Singh’s family said he was extremely religious, and that he felt blessed to be able to fly sorties for Kedarnath devotees after his retirement from the army in 2007. “The only thing that is giving me peace right now is that he died doing what he loved, and that too in a holy land that he felt a deep connection with,” said Singh’s daughter, Feroza, 25.

A sound engineer and media professional, Feroza first heard about her father’s death from her grandmother. “I got a call from my dadi in Delhi around 12:30, telling me that there was news of a chopper crash in Kedarnath. I turned on the news and saw his company’s name flashing on the screen. That’s when I realised,” she said.

“Ansi was a fantastic pilot. He flew in Kedarnath so many times. He evacuated victims of cardiac arrest from ONGC’s offshore rigs, which is a challenging task even for experienced fliers. The company he was flying for also treated him very well, and had the utmost confidence in his abilities. It’s disheartening to see the TV news media so brazenly questioning his capabilities. This was an accident, a misfortune. I refused to believe it is anything more,” added Anandita, wiping away tears.