Ajay Raina
JAMMU, Nov 30: A pall of gloom descended on the native village of Army Major Arvind Bazala (popularly known as Bravado Zulu on Facebook), who was killed when a Cheetah helicopter crashed at Sukna Military Camp helipad in West Bengal, today.
The family members were shocked to hear the news and were inconsolable. Major Arvind is survived by his parents, wife and a brother.
Son of TR Bhagat, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) agent and Santosh Bhagat, Assistant Manager, J&K Bank, 30-year-old Major Arvind was an alumnus of Sainik School Nagrota.
He joined National Defence Academy (NDA) in the year 2005 as cadet and later passed out as Army Lieutenant from Indian Military Academy (IMA) Dehradun in 2009. His first posting was at Chatha, Jammu.
Several women from various RS Pura villages here reached the martyr’s house today and tried to console Arvind’s widow Aahana Bazala. The couple had got married in November 2015, family members said. Arvind’s widow Aahana is a housewife, while Arvind’s brother Ankush Bazala is studying in New Delhi.
Arvind’s neighbours described him as a “go getter” who always had a smile on his face. They added that Arvind was of a cool nature and helpful to each and everyone.
“Arvind was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need”, Arvind’s cousin Gourav said while talking to the EXCELSIOR.
He added that Arvind was of a friendly nature and always created an environment of happiness and joy, where ever he visit, whether it will be his home, relatives house or with friends. He was dedicated to his work, Gourav said, adding that Arvind had come for vacation in the month of November this year.
Family members of Arvind have made an appeal to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scrap the old helicopters and introduce new ones having advanced technology, so that these kind of accidents can be stopped and lives can be saved.
“These types of accidents had taken place in the past also and still the Central Government is not scrapping the old choppers, which had turned out to be deadly”, they said.
“We lost our son, but don’t want this thing to happen again to anyone else. We appeal to the Prime Minister to replace the old choppers with new advanced technology choppers, so that lives can be saved”, they demanded.
They also demanded probe into this chopper crash incident, in which their son got killed.
Meanwhile, Arvind’s body is likely to reach the village tomorrow afternoon and will be cremated at his native village.
It may be mentioned here that the Cheetah helicopter crashed around 11.45 am at Sukna Military Camp helipad in West Bengal, when it was returning from a routine mission.
While three officers including Lieutenant Colonel Rajneesh Kumar and 2 Majors Arvind Bazala and Sanjeev Lathera were killed in the chopper crash and Sapper Davie Yogesh was evacuated and admitted to a hospital in a critical condition.
The Army’s 33 Corps is based at Sukna and all aircraft of the Army are run by Army Aviation Corps.
A Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the incident.
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