Hyderabad: If it was not for Wing Commander Vidyadhar Shankar Chati, the 1971 prison break would not have been ‘successful’.
The retired Wing Commander worked as a catalyst in helping three Indian Air Force pilots to escape from a PoW camp in Pakistan. The officer, who has made Hyderabad his home, played a cover by facilitating the breakout.
In the 1971 Indo-Pak War, 12 IAF pilots were captured. One of them, Flt Lt Dilip Parulkar, inspired two others Flt Lt MS Grewal ‘Garry’ and Flt Lt Harish Sinhji ‘Harry’ to break the prison and escape.
Wd Cdr Chati said, “Garry, Harry, Dilip Parulkar and I were put in one 15x15 square yard room in the Rawalpindi PoW camp. One a fine day, I was taken in their transport along with a officer for a medical inspection. The vehicle happened to stop at a local bus station and I heard the bus conductor shouting ‘Peshwar.’ This gave me the clue that there a bus depot close to the PoW camp and transport facility available.”
“We dug for a month, 2-3 hours under the cover of darkness. I used to play the radio loud so that the guard don’t hear the sound. With bags made out of a curtain they escaped . I sealed the hole. Later, I heard that Garry, Harry and Dilip were caught. After that, we were placed in different jails. After four months, we were released,” said Wg Cdr Chati who was 23 years old then.
