Netflix’s ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijacking’ Recap & Ending Explained

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijacking, the brand-new Netflix India Original series, chronicles the events of the infamous hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight that was supposed to fly from Kathmandu to Delhi. This flight was under the control of several terrorists for a few days in December 1999, and a lot of events unfolded in those days, including the negotiations between the Government of India and the hijackers, who would not have hesitated to execute hostages.

Spoilers Ahead

Why was Ram worried?

Ram was the operative of R&AW, the Indian spy agency, reporting from Kathmandu. Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, was a hub for spies from across the subcontinent. Ram was briefly informed by an ISI agent in the city about a shocking incident that would devastate the nation. Ram returned to his office to find more information on the offhanded intelligence he received. He soon got to know the intel was about a flight heading to Delhi from Kathmandu. Ram sent a brief to the IB about suspected terrorists on a flight to Delhi from Kathmandu. He was also unable to stop the flight from taking off. 

What happened on 24th December 1999?

On the morning of 24th December 1999, the Delhi Kathmandu flight was hijacked by a bunch of terrorists who had smuggled weapons on board thanks to a local man working at the airport being bribed to place a bag full of guns and other sharp weapons. A total of five terrorists hijacked the plane shortly after take-off. Ever since, the crew and the passengers had been held hostage in midair.

What were the plans of the bureaucrats in Delhi?

The officials that were given the news of the hijack included Ranjan Mishra, D.R. Sivaramakrishnan, aka DRS, Abhijeet Kumar, J.P. Kohli, Mukul Mohan, and V.K. Agarwal. The ministers included Vijaybhan Singh, the Minister of External Affairs, and Cabinet Secretary Vinay Kaul. All these men were on the forefront since the news of the hijacking broke. They had to initially find out if ISI was behind the attack, as Ram was given the task of finding out who delivered the bag full of weapons on the flight. The officers and the ministers were keen to find out several other details, which included finding out where the flight was headed, what the demands of the hijackers were, and who was funding their mission. The bureaucrats and the officials had to get in touch with several high-level officers and ambassadors, including in the US and the UK, to keep everyone in the loop about the developing crisis.

Which cities was the flight taken to for refueling?

The flight was initially slated to land in Delhi as per the schedule. Ever since the hijack, the terrorists had been demanding the flight be taken to Kabul, the capital city of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The three pilots on board confirmed there was not enough fuel for the flight to travel up to Kabul. One of the terrorists was a trained pilot who confirmed the situation which led to the plane being forced to land in Amritsar. The Indian officials had hoped to carry out an NSG attack to arrest the terrorists and rescue the passengers. Amritsar was supposed to be their pit stop for the refueling, but things did not work as planned for the officials, as the PMO had to take a decision by consulting the several parties in the coalition. 

The Punjab police were ready for the action as asked by the Intelligence Bureau, but since they did not receive an order from the chief minister of the state, the police were helpless. The terrorists got antsy and forced Captain Devi Sharan Singh and his co-pilots to take off on the bare minimum fuel. The flight had to land in Lahore to avoid crashing from lack of fuel. Lahore did not allow the plane to land initially, but soon were forced to do so to avoid international embarrassment to their head of state. After parking at Lahore for bare minimum refueling, the flight was headed to Dubai. Dubai gave them permission to land but they were threatened to not commit any crimes on their soil. After the flight was fully refueled in Dubai, they were headed to Kandahar, the city in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Taliban gave them permission to land and became the mediator between the terrorists and India, as the negotiations would start any day after the landing. 

What happened to the passengers on the flight?

The passengers on IC 814 were petrified to the point all of them were scared for their lives.  The men on the flight were moved to the business class section of the flight, while women and children were forced to stay back in the economy. The husband of a newlywed couple was forced to separate from his wife as she was panicking while the situation only got worse. The husband sadly became a victim of the terrorist’s sadistic streak as he wanted to send out a message that they needed to be dealt with with utmost seriousness. His throat was slit, and he quickly lost consciousness due to heavy blood loss. 

It was in Dubai that the terrorists had their first talk with the Indian officials, who requested them to deboard the women and children from the flight as a part of initial barter. The terrorists did agree to the demand and deboarded as per the deal, but did not let all of them leave the flight, especially the wife of the man whose throat was slit. The husband eventually died, and his body was dumped in Dubai, and the wife was not informed about it. 

How did Captain Devi Sharan remedy the worsening sanitary situation?

As the flight was stationed at Kandahar, the situation inside the flight was getting worse as the toilets were not being cleaned, and it sent out a stench across. The remaining passengers began to complain about the hygiene of the sanitary facilities, which the terrorists initially ignored. Within a few hours, matters got worse, and Captain Dev Sharan Singh decided to fix the valve that connects to the lavatory to make the toilets function properly. As the captain was successful in doing so, he was lauded by the passengers for standing up for them, and several of them volunteered to clean the lavatories for them to function properly for everyone to use. 

How did Ram find out about the red bag with explosives?

Ram in Kathmandu was desperate to find out what else was delivered to flight IC 814. He had gotten in touch with a man who was given the bag and the same item was delivered to the worker at the Kathmandu airport to be placed inside IC 814. Ram was chased by a seemingly ISI operative as he was getting close to finding out if Pakistani intelligence was involved in the hijacking. Ram, however, was shocked to learn the two people who’d given him intel were killed, possibly by the ISI itself, cementing his theory that Pakistani intelligence had planted the terrorists. Ram also had learned that there was another red bag filled with RDX placed inside the flight luggage area. This information was forwarded to the officials in India. 

When did the negotiations start?

Since the situation back home in India was getting worse as the relatives of the passengers were demanding answers on what was the government’s plan of action. The media and the pressure from the people, which was justified, forced the government to have an all-party meeting to comprehend the situation and to get consent on whether to start the negotiation channels or not. The all-party meeting was a success, and the external minister agreed to send a team to Kandahar to begin talks with the terrorists to find out what they wanted. The team consisted of Ranjan Mishra from R&AW, DRS, Abhijeet Kumar from MEA, and Mukul Mohan from IB. The decision on who to make the negotiator was hazy, and Mukul Mohan was eventually asked to step up to carry out the most crucial job of the mission. 

What was the final offer demanded by the terrorists?

As the negotiations began, the terrorists in the flight were to talk to Mukul Mohan, who was representing the government. Initially, a cash demand for 200 million dollars was made along with the remains of Sajjad, a slain terrorist who was buried in India. Their demands proved that the terrorists on board were coached and trained to talk to the Indian officials. They seemed to be aware of what they wanted. There was an indication of them being supported by Al Qaeda besides the support of ISI to make such demands. Mukul Mohan and the team were initially not ready. The negotiations reached a stalemate several times, as at one point the terrorist from the flight also threatened to crash the plane into the Indian parliament if Kandahar allowed them to leave. The team was terrified, and so was the Taliban government. Neither were keen on any bloodshed happening. 

The Afghan government also gave the Indian officials in Kandahar and the terrorists on the flight time to come up with a concrete decision by the end of the day. The Afghan government was keen on getting out of this messy situation since the passengers on the flight were mere guests for them. The Afghan government wanting to stay away from trouble did not make sense, as Osama Bin Laden, who could be indirectly involved in this, was sheltered by them. The Afghan government probably wanted to avoid getting involved in a conflict between India and Pakistan. Their polite threat of wanting their neighboring nations to find a solution was just their way of staying out of things. The final demand made by the terrorists was for India to release Maulana Masood Azhar, Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar. These three were in high-security prisons; they were important criminals caught by the Indian officials who had been involved in acts of waging war against India. Releasing them was crucial, which again indicated that Pakistani intelligence wanted their stooges back, with whom they could continue their crusade against India.

How Were Captain Devi Sharan, the crew, and the passengers rescued?

Initially, Cabinet Secretary Vinay Kaul was not in favor of the release of the terrorist, as he was sure the Jammu and Kashmir CM would never agree to it. Since this was a sensitive matter that involved the growing tension in the Kashmir valley, not releasing those deadly terrorists was a justified response. However, the Minister of External Affairs was keen on saving the people of his country. Having them in prison was a huge win, but having to let them go was inevitable. The government’s only concern was to make sure the Indian hostages did not die just for the sake of India’s ego. They probably did not want the situation to become like the 1972 Munich Olympics, where the Israeli government refused to negotiate with Black September. The plan was to agree to release the three terrorists from prison and send V.K. Agarwal of IB to convince the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Farooq Abdullah. Jammu and Kashmir was not inclined to sign the deal, but it was believed V.K. Agarwal eventually convinced him to do so as it was a question of the lives of Indians stuck in Taliban ruled Afghanistan. 

The show ended with the deal being a success and the Minister of External Affairs reaching Kandahar as well to finalize it. The minister insisted on traveling to Afghanistan, probably to prove the government cared for the Indians who’d been stuck in the plane for almost five days. Captain Devi Sharan got emotional looking at the state of his plane as he was being escorted to the flight sent to take him and the passengers back. He was probably overwhelmed by the sight of the pain everyone went through. The fact that most of them survived the ordeal was a big deal for him, which made his eyes well up. The Minister of External Affairs saluted him, calling him the hero who never budged throughout the ordeal. As the flight took off, DRS, Mukul, Ranjan, and Abhijeet were contemplating whether they had won the fight. Mukul claimed they’d put up a fight, but DRS was not sure if this would earn them any brownie points as they lost three terrorists. Mukul was happy the hostages had survived, while DRS was disappointed, believing it came at too high a cost. 

The show ended with the footage of the RDX bag being removed by the terrorists themselves, which was handed over to the Taliban government, as it would not be good for them or India. There was no intel about the purpose of the bag. It could be that the terrorists may have planned to bomb the plane if the negotiations did not work. These were just speculations, but the Pakistani intelligence’s bag of RDX was found when, on a tip-off, the intelligence head’s home was raided and the police found RDX. The chief was deported on diplomatic immunity, but this indicated the connection between Pakistani intelligence and the hijack. The terrorists were welcomed by Osama Bin Laden, but the Pakistani intelligence was forced not to join the ceremony to avoid public shaming and revealing their involvement in the hijacking.