Ravi Khanna (Squadron Leader)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ravi Khanna

• Ravi Khanna was a Squadron Leader in the Indian Airforce. On 25 January 2022, he was shot dead by a group of militants who were led by Yasin Malik, the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). ^[3]The Print In March 2022, soon after the release of the film ‘The Kasmir Files,’ his name started floating on the news headlines when his widow, Nirmal Khanna, appealed in a Jammu court that in the film, the scenes related to the killing of her husband were contrary to the real facts following which she demanded the removal or amendment of the scenes from the film ‘The Kashmir Files.’

  

• According to the wife of Ravi Khanna, on 25 January 1990, her husband went to his office along with his friend and was shot dead by Yasin Malik following a scuffle between them. In 2019, in a conversation with a media house, Nirmal Khanna recalled the incident of her husband’s killing. She said,
  

  I lived in Rawalpora and our house was just 50 yards away from the crime scene. Amid curfew I heard sound of crackers that morning. At wit’s end I went to the roof top and saw some army vehicles and men in uniform. I went there to see what actually had happened and spotted my husband’s briefcase with a bullet mark on it. I realised that something wrong has happened.”

  She further added that Yasin Malik shot bullets in Ravi Khanna’s abdomen. She said,

  At a distance, I saw my husband lying in a pool of blood. I saw a bullet injury in his abdomen. Initially, I felt embarrassed thinking that if my husband could not endure a single bullet, then how could our borders be secured.”

• According to media sources, Yasin Malik shot 27 bullets with an AK-47 assault rifle on Ravi Khanna. Soon, Ravi Khanna was declared brought dead by the doctors of the Badami Bagh cantonment hospital. In medical reports, doctors stated that on Ravi Khanna’s back, the terrorists emptied an entire magazine of an AK-47 assault rifle. In 2019, in an interview with a media house, Nirmal Khanna stated that Ravi Khanna’s companion Flight Lieutenant BR Sharma was with him when the incident occurred. She said that BR Sharma told her that Yasin Malik killed Ravi Khanna. She narrated that Yasin Malik and his group members were asking the way to Nattipora from Ravi Khanna, and he was directing them the way in a polite manner. Meanwhile, they had an argument following which Yasin Malik fired a bullet in Ravi Khanna’s abdomen. Soon, he emptied the whole magazine on Ravi Khanna’s back. ^[4]Hindustan Times She described,
  

  He told me that Malik was leading the attackers and had sought directions for Nattipora from my husband. Ravi was giving him directions in a friendly manner when Malik fired first bullet in his abdomen. Following a scuffle, Malik emptied an entire magazine on my husband’s back.”

• In February 2006, the meeting between the then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, and Yasin Malik shocked the family members of the martyrs, who were killed by Yasin Malik during the exodus of Kashmiri pandits in 1990. In 2019, Nirmal Khanna expressed in an interview with a media house that she never expected that a Prime Minister would give a national platform to a terrorist following which she felt mocked and insulted as Yasin Malik was the alleged killer of her husband Ravi Khanna. She said,
  

  I didn’t expect him to shake hands with a terrorist. Being a PM he should have known the difference between right and wrong. When Manmohan Singh shook hands with Malik, I felt a grave insult to the supreme sacrifice of my husband. It felt as if the entire world mocked at me but then they were into negotiations with him to run their Kashmir agenda.”

• When Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna was killed in 1990, his son was eight years old, snd his daughter was six years old. According to Nirmal Khanna, his parents and mother-in-law passed away soon after the death of Ravi Khanna. Nirmal Khanna was thirty-eight years old when Ravi Khanna was shot dead. In a press interview, Nirmal Khanna recalled,
  

  Yasin Malik not only murdered my husband but also killed my mother-in-law, my father-in-law and my mother. My two children lost their childhood. Our happiness was snatched away in a second. This terrorist turned our world upside down.”

• On 25 January 1990, three more IAF personnel were killed along with Ravi Khanna. They were Corporal D.B. Singh, Corporal Uday Shankar, and Airman Azad Ahmad. In October 2019, the wife of Ravi Khanna claimed that the Government of India skipped writing his name on the War Memorial in New Delhi. Soon after she raised the issue in the media, in September 2019, Ravi Khanna’s name was added to the War Memorial. ^[5]The Print An officer stated,
  

  Their names were already there. Somehow, by mistake, Squadron Leader Khanna’s name was not there.”

• Later, Yasin Malik, the head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was accused of killing four IAF personnel, including Squadron leader Ravi Khanna, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) detained Yasin Malik before the TADA court in Jammu under the killing charges of IAF personnel. Consequently, Yasin Malik was sent to Tihar Jail for the terror funding allegations by the National Investigative Agency (NIA). ^[6]The Print

• Nirmal Khanna, the wife of Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna, mentioned in a press conversation that she fought long to get the War Widow Pension. She added,
  

  I have been denied war widow’s pension for long. Now, I feel accepted as the daughter of India. I had to fight for War Widows Pension for long. But as good citizens we should first know our duties and then take our rights.”