Indian Airlines Flight 421

Not to be confused with Indian Airlines Flight 405.

Indian Airlines Flight 421
An Indian Airlines Boeing 737-200, similar to the aircraft involved in the hijack
Hijacking
Date24 August 1984 (1984-08-24)
SummaryTerrorist hijacking
SiteDubai Airport, UAE
25°15′10″N 055°21′52″E / 25.25278°N 55.36444°E / 25.25278; 55.36444
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 737-2A8
OperatorIndian Airlines
IATA flight No.IC421
RegistrationVT-EFK
Flight originPalam Airport
1st stopoverLahore Airport
2nd stopoverKarachi Airport
Last stopoverDubai Airport
DestinationSrinagar Airport
Occupants74 (including the hijackers)
Fatalities0
Survivors74

On 24 August 1984, seven members of the banned All India Sikh Students Federation hijacked an Indian Airlines jetliner Indian Airlines Flight 421 (IATA No.: IC421),[1][2] a Boeing 737-2A8, on a domestic flight from the Delhi-Palam Airport to Srinagar Airport with 74 people on board and demanded to be flown to the United States.[3] The plane travelled to Lahore, then to Karachi and finally to Dubai, where the defence minister of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum negotiated the release of the passengers and the surrender of all hijackers to UAE authorities.

It was related to the secessionist insurgency in the Indian state of Punjab. The Khalistan movement was a separatist movement in Indian Punjab and UK where a small portion of the Sikh community openly asked for a separate country for Sikhs (Khalistan).[4] The hijackers were subsequently extradited by UAE to India, who handed over the pistol recovered from the hijackers.

Indian civil servant K. Subrahmanyam was on board the hijacked flight.[5] The arrested hijackers later claimed in court that it was Subrahmanyam who "planned the entire hijacking to examine nuclear installations in Pakistan."[6]

IC 421 hijacking was mentioned in the book IA's Terror Trail, written by Anil Sharma.[2][7] Indian Airlines, India's sole domestic airline up to 1993, was hijacked 16 times, from 1971 to 1999.

This hijacking was an important part of the 2021 Indian film Bell Bottom.

  1. ^ "Longest hijack in Indian aviation history by Khalistan activists meets anti-climactic end".
  2. ^ a b "Two Years Before 'Neerja' Hijacking: The Curious Case of IC 421". 17 March 2016.
  3. ^ Kishin R. Wadhwaney (2004). Indian Airports (Shocking Ground Realities). Diamond Pocket Books. ISBN 978-81-288-0872-2. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  4. ^ Kiessling, Hein (2016). Faith, Unity, Discipline: The Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781849048637. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Longest hijack in Indian aviation history by Khalistan activists meets anti-climactic end". India Today. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  6. ^ "K. Subrahmanyam (1929-2011)- the dean of Indian strategy". Hindustan Times. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  7. ^ Sharma, Anil; Doval, Ajit K. (1 January 2014). IA's Terror Trail. ASIN 935156181X.