Late Major Mustafa Bohra of Udaipur was honored with the prestigious Shaurya Chakra posthomously.

Fatima Bohra and Zakiuddin Bohra, the mother and father of Major Mustafa received the award from Mrs. Droupadi Murmu, President of India at a grand ceremony held on 5 July at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. The Shaurya Chakra was also awarded to Martyr Major Vikas Bhambhu, who along with Major Mustafa were piloting the ill-fated chopper that crashed in the forests of Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh, while on an operational mission. 

The attendees at this grand ceremony included the Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi among other senior Ministers. 

Virendra Singh Solanki, Deputy Secretary of Martyr Major Mustafa Trust, informed that the family of Shaheed Major Mustafa Bohra, after receiving the Shaurya Chakra award, will leave for Udaipur on Sunday, 7th July 2024 from New Delhi by Air India flight number AI-469. They will reach Dabok Airport (Udaipur) at 2.15pm. Where the family members of Martyr Major Mustafa will be given a grand welcome by Vallabhnagar MLA Udaylal Dangi and officials of all major political parties, the Bohra community and many social and religious organizations.

The Chopper Crash

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 Vikas Bhambhu'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. At 1028 hours post successful mission completion, 20 Kilometers to the Indo-China border, the helicopter catastrophically caught fire. Both pilots had more than 600 combined flying hours on the Advance Light Helicopter (Weapon Systems Integrated) and over 1800 service flying hours between them. They were experienced pilots with substantial flying experience but faced an unprecedented emergency situation in the aircraft with rapid loss of altitude and extreme variation in attitude. Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara being under extreme physical and mental stress in a life-threatening situation maintained exemplary composure and tried to regain control and fly away from the built-up area and ammunition point of Migging to save precious lives.

They had the liberty to land in an open area near Migging, however, this could have resulted in the loss of civilian lives and damage to ammunition point due to fire. Facing a deadly situation Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara, risking their own lives, steered the aircraft and crash-landed away from the habitat area. 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.