Two pilots killed after Army helicopter crash lands in J&K's Udhampur
Jammu(PTI): Two pilots were killed when an Army helicopter crash-landed in a dense forest near Patnitop in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district on Tuesday, officials said.
"Today, during a training sortie in Patnitop area, Indian Army's Cheetah helicopter crash-landed in Shiv Garh Dhar area in the district," a Jammu-based defence spokesman said.
He said that two pilots -- Major Rohit Kumar and Major Anuj Rajput -- were injured in the incident and evacuated to the nearest medical facility but they succumbed later.
Army Commander, Northern Command, Lt Gen Y K Joshi paid rich tributes to the slain officers.
"Army Commander, Northern Command, and all other ranks salute the bravehearts who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty on 21 September 2021 at Patnitop and offer deepest condolences to their families," the Army's Northern Command said in a tweet.
Officials said the incident reportedly occurred between 10.30 am to 10.45 am when the chopper was caught in bad weather, officials said, adding the helicopter belonged to the Army Aviation Corps.
There was a thick fog over Patnitop when the incident occurred, they said.
Local residents were the first to reach the site and they pulled out the pilots from the severely damaged helicopter, they added.
Police, along with the Army, rushed to the scene to join the rescue operation and evacuated the injured pilots to a hospital, the officials said.
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Chhattisgarh court grants bail to two Kerala nuns in human trafficking-conversion case
Bilaspur (PTI): A special court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on Saturday granted bail to three persons, including two nuns from Kerala, arrested on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion, lawyers said.
Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA court) Sirajuddin Qureshi had reserved the order on their bail pleas after a hearing on Friday.
The court has granted conditional bail to the trio, defence lawyer Amrito Das said.
Catholic nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis, both from Kerala, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested at the Durg railway station on July 25, following a complaint from a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them, a railway police official had said.
Following the bail hearing on Friday, Das had said that the prosecution had not asked for the trio's custody for interrogation, and the alleged victims had been sent back to their homes.
