Major Mustafa Story

Major Mustafa Bohara hailed from Kheroda village in Udaipur district of Rajasthan and was born on 14 May 1995. Son of Shri Zakiuddin Bohara and Smt Fatema Bohara, he had a sister Alefiya Bohara as his sibling. He completed his primary education at Uday Shiksha Mandir Higher Secondary School in Kheroda and later he studied at St Paul’s School in Udaipur.  He was inclined to join the armed forces since his younger days and continued to follow his dream while growing up. Following his passion he got selected for the prestigious NDA after completing his schooling.  He joined the 128th NDA Course and became a part of November Squadron. 

He later went to IMA Dehradun for further training and was commissioned as a lieutenant.  After serving for some time with his parent unit, he got selected for flying training and was transferred to the Army Aviation Corps. He got trained as a helicopter pilot and completed his basic Army Aviation Course as a Lieutenant.  He excelled in his training and passed out of the Combat Army Aviation School (CATS) in Nashik.  By the year 2022, he had been promoted to the rank of Major and had developed into a professionally competent Helicopter pilot with expertise in various air operations. He had been engaged in the year 2022 and was soon to be married but the destiny had something else in store for him. 

Army Air Operation: 21 Oct 2022

During 2022, Major Mustafa Bohara was serving with the 252 Army Aviation Squadron deployed in the North-East. The squadron was operating Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), which was known to be a high-performance helicopter designed for operation over a very wide range of weight, center of gravity and altitude conditions. Out of the four variants—(ALH Mark 1, Mark 2, Mark 3 and ALH-WSI) available in the Army, Major Mustafa Bohara’s Sqn was operating ALH-WSI (Weapons Systems Integrated) versions having powerful engine, called Shakti, co-developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran of France.  The Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-WSI) was versatile, multi-role, multi-purpose, highly maneuverable, and rugged in construction.  On 21st Oct 2022, Major Mustafa Bohara and Major Vikas Bhambhu as pilots along with 3 other crew members were tasked for an air mission. 

The crew took off from Likabali in the Lower Siang district in their Helicopter to carry out the assigned task as per the operational plan. However as Major Mustafa Bohara’s aircraft reached a forward area around Migging in Upper Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, the Helicopter faced an emergency situation.  Arunachal Pradesh was considered to have some of the most difficult terrains in the country, throwing unexpected challenges to the pilots. The mountains and the rapidly changing weather conditions caused a huge number of air mishaps and casualties. The Advanced Light Helicopter presumably developed a serious snag that the pilots could not rectify in time. The pilots sent a ‘MAY DAY’ call to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) suggesting a technical or mechanical failure.

Both the pilots had more than 600 combined flying hours on the Advance Light Helicopter (Weapon Systems Integrated) and over 1800 service flying hours between them. Major Mustafa Bohara and Major Vikas Bhambhu were experienced pilots with substantial flying experience but they apparently did not get adequate time to bring the aircraft under control. Consequently, the aircraft crashed at around 10:43 am and Major Mustafa Bohara and other crew members could not survive the crash. A joint search operation with teams from the army and air force was launched immediately after locating the crash site, which was very remote and extremely challenging in terms of hills with steep gradients and thick jungle. The search and rescue team eventually managed to retrieve the mortal remains of the valiant soldiers. Besides Major Mustafa Bohara, the other martyred soldiers included Major Vikas Bhambhu, Havildar Biresh Sinha, Naik Rohitashva Kumar and Craftsman Aswin KV. Major Mustafa Bohara, was a committed soldier and professionally competent pilot, who at the age of 27 years laid down his life in the service of the nation.

Major Mustafa Bohara, is survived by his father Shri Zakiuddin Bohara, mother Smt Fatima Bohara and sister Alefiya Bohara.