Wing Commander, who is now Group Captain, Abhinandan Varthaman has been awarded the Vir Chakra by President Ram Nath Kovind in an investiture ceremony today. He was awarded for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft in aerial combat on February 27, 2019. The then Wing Commander was engaged in a fight with a Pakistani fighter jet in the aerial skirmishes between Indian and Pakistani Air Forces which was followed by the Pulwama attack. To note, he was promoted to the rank of a Group Captain on November 3, 2021.

News agency ANI shared the information on its Twitter handle and wrote, “Wing Commander (now Group Captain) Abhinandan Varthaman being accorded the Vir Chakra by President Ram Nath Kovind, for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft during aerial combat on February 27, 2019.”  The tweet also has a video attached to it. According to official reports, Varthaman's MiG-21 aircraft was shot down by the Pakistani forces after he brought down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in aerial combat. The brave officer landed in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and was taken into custody by the Pakistan Army. He was subsequently released after New Delhi mounted diplomatic pressure on Islamabad.
 

Besides Varthaman, Sapper Prakash Jadhav was awarded the second-highest peacetime gallantry award Kirti Chakra (posthumously) for neutralising terrorists in an operation in Jammu and Kashmir. Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was awarded Shaurya Chakra (posthumously) for his role in an operation which resulted in neutralising five terrorists. Naib Subedar Sombir also received the Shaurya Chakra posthumously for killing an A++ category terrorist during an anti-terror operation in J&K.