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Journalism of Courage
Eight retired veterans of the Indian Navy, who were detained in Doha in 2022, were sentenced to death by a Qatari court on Thursday (October 26). The men — seven officers and one sailor — were working in their personal capacity for Dahra Global, an Omani private defence consultancy, to help oversee the induction of Italian U212 stealth submarines into the Qatari Emiri Naval Force.
We take a quick look at who these eight men are.
Captain Gill hails from Chandigarh and is the son of a retired Army officer. He was awarded the President’s gold medal as a cadet and served at the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington. In what is considered a prized appointment, he was posted at INS Viraat, India’s second aircraft carrier which was decommissioned in 2017, as a navigating officer. He also commanded INS Prabal — an advanced missile corvette and the lead ship of the legendary Killer squadron, most known for its role in bombing Karachi port during the 1971 Indo-Pak War.
An alumnus of Sainik school, Korukonda, both Commander Pakala’s parents were educationists. He was an engineering officer in the Navy, holding the unique record of crossing the equator twice aboard INS Tarangini, a 500 tonne sailship. A decorated officer, he had received a commendation from the commander-in-chief (C-in-C). After retiring from the Navy, he briefly worked at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd in Vishakhapatnam.
An engineering officer in the Navy, Captain Vashisht received commendations from C-in-C twice. He has done courses at DSSC, Wellington as well as the College of Defence Management at Secunderabad. He was command refit officer at Southern Naval Command and served on INS Magar, INS Kulish, INS Khanjar and Indian Coast Guard Ship Sangram. He hails from Dehradun.
A navigation specialist from the executive branch of the Navy, Cdr Tiwari commanded INS Magar and was the fleet navigating officer of the Navy’s Eastern Fleet. He has also served on Rajput class destroyers. After retirement, he trained Singapore naval personnel prior to moving to Qatar. He was the first ever Armed Forces veteran to receive the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award. He was presented the honour by then President Ramnath Kovind in 2019. Prior to his arrest last year, he was training personnel from the Qatari Navy.
Captain Verma was a navigation specialist and had served aboard a Godavari class ship. He was also a topper in the Staff College course. Both he and his wife share a military background.
The former naval officer was a communications specialist in the Navy.
The former naval officer specialised in Gunnery.
He was a sailor in the Navy. He is the only non-commissioned officer be involved in the current situation.
