105-yr-old Indian pilot dies in silence but unravels vicious Cold War plot to assassinate Zhou Enlai

#CutTheClutter #ZhouEnlai #KashmirPrincess
A 105-year-old Indian pilot dies in silence but unravels a vicious Cold War conspiracy to assassinate Zhou Enlai, a bombed airliner & some heroism - Watch episode 1,127 of 'Cut The Clutter' with ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta to know more.
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[@ThePrintIndia]

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[@amitmittal5137]

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[@AMITKULHARI-px6qn]

No other journalist platform would cover such a story. Really admire The Print for the kind of stories you cover. I only know of this crash story from the biography written on RN Kao.

[@krr3502]

These vary story is being narrated way back by stratnews global editor in chief a legendry journalist

[@krr3502]

@@nisargdalal5840 his KZbin page stratnews global is a goldmines of strategic viewpoint of Indian and the world .

[@ShubhamTiwari-mu8do]

Spectacular story and very well put forward. Thanks Sir for covering such topics

[@krishnaxyz]

Good story. I wish we knew how this incident happened in the context of our ties with China. In 1955, China and India were steering NAM and strong friends against Cold war politics. How this got so wrong that we had to fight a war with Chine 7 years later.

[@baskaranganesan9006]

China was never a co_ promoter of NAM

[@krishnaxyz]

@@baskaranganesan9006 ok steering is wrong word. Participating is the right word. My question remains the same. Why our relations went upside down in 7 years.

[@helcurt2509]

@@krishnaxyz you read about India's forward policy towards china. China wasn't initiator in 1962

[@aakarshjha1633]

@@helcurt2509 initiating forward policy to safeguard our own land not encroaching on other's territory like china does

[@helcurt2509]

@@aakarshjha1633 there was and still isn't any official boundary accepted by both

[@ramyashastri]

pretty sure the americans were behind HJB's crash. They did all they could to deter India from entering Nuclear club. we built ours natively.

[@sekhariyer3980]

Nehru was a Chinese stooge. This has been proved time and again.

[@vinaypradhan6041]

Excellent narration. Luckily I had a chance to read (long time back when I was in school) the book "Kashmir Princes" by Mr. Karnik. He was assigned as an additional engineer (besides the flight engineer) for that special flight. He gave a good description of the flight till the accident, after the explosion, ditching efforts, and then survival efforts to reach a nearby island. I remember his words that the aluminum wing was burning like paper. The plane was difficult to control due to uneven lift as the right wing disintegrating due to fire. Capt. Jathar managed to ditch the aircraft in spite of that. Plane broke into three major pieces amid intense fire. Only three of them managed to get out. They tried to swim to the nearest island but could not due to very strong currents. Ultimately they managed to reach islands and then getting help from the authorities. Later on they were asked "how did the sharks spare you?" by British Royal Navy ship crew that helped in investigation and recovery. Apparently those are shark infested waters. Ms. Berry was engaged to be married to a TWA airline captain but fate had different plans. Separately Capt. Jathar skippered Air India's first international flight from Cairo to London via Rome (Bombay to Cairo was another senior Captain). Thanks for covering this topic.

[@acharyaashis342]

Yes, I have also read the Bengali translation of Mr. A.S. Karnik's book when I was a school student in the early seventies. I still remember the photographs of the crew members including Ms. Berry in that book.

[@GururajBN]

I had read about the crash of Kashmir Princess in a Kannada Digest called "Kasturi", which compiled stories from various sources and presented it much like Readers' Digest. Of course, so many details were not known then except that Chou En Lai (as spelled then) had escaped death. Many thanks for bringing back such an old crash story. Probably, you should also do a CTC on Kanishka, the Air India jumbo jet which went down in the Atlantic, and Emperor Akbar, which went down off Bombay coast (as it was called then).

[@shobitgurung86]

It was Emperor Ashoka....that went down on 1st January 1978

[@olah22]

शेखर गुप्ता भी दादा नाना की तरह पुरानी कहानियां सुनाता है पर ये कहानियां रोचक रोमांचक और सत्य होती है।।

[@pradeepjainbp]

Salute to the Print Team for choosing this story in cut the clutter... Such a ride in to the 50's and 60's feels like we lived in there.... Sir please make an episode or 2 on Homi Bhabha and the spy, espionage at that time... ROCKET Boys had done a good job but when we hear it from you we are sure that we are clear of the clutter.

[@somnathbose5475]

Thanks to The Print and Mr. Gupta for covering this long forgotten episode . I remember reading a Bengali language translation of Mr . Karnik's book and being riveted by his accounts , at an age when children read mainly storybooks and comics . Much later , I sailed up and down the South China seas , passing quite close to the Natuna group of islands . It would be highly appreciated if Mr.Gupta did an episode on the Air India crash in the Swiss Alps which killed Homi Bhaba and everyone on board and also included , I understand , some fellow Indian Merchant Navy Officers and crew on their way to join a newly acquired Indian ship , somewhere in Europe .

[@Ramineni1]

India and China were in the same level of economic development at that time in 1955 . Chinese sources report that Zhou enLai resented Nehru behavior at Bandung conference. Zhou en Lai resented patronizing attitude of Nehru introducing him to other delegates as senior statesman . Nehru was not sensitive to Chinese cultural sensibilities. Same attitude of Nehru caused the precipitation of Indo Chinese war of 1962 when he wanted publically to kick them out from disputed border

[@Cv-hv8nn]

😂😂 JLN patriot to India? 😂😂😂

[@harshalshah8845]

I am pretty sure there is an akshay kumar movie called "Kashmir Princess" in the making inspired by this episode of CTC 😀

[@ajinkyajoshi1749]

Death of Mr.Bhabha should be seprate story..It was big loss and bigger conspiracy

[@everuttejon9886]

Bhaba, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi all were assassinated by CIA

[@ajinkyajoshi1749]

@@everuttejon9886 True...In death of Shstri Ji,Congress was involved...Shastri's family demanded postmortem but then cong govt denied ..Shshriji was dead one day after signing a peace treaty to end the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War is so suspicious.

[@mohitsharmaonline]

At the start of 50s Sardar Patel warned Chacha Nehru about Chinese and their intentions, However as usual Chacha ignored him and as a nation we served Chinese entire 50s and got betrayed in 1962. I think the behavior of ignoring other's intelligence and forcing strategies leading to nation's loss is not what great leaders do.

[@everuttejon9886]

Bhaba, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi all were assassinated by CIA

[@Little-bird-told-me]

Zhou Enlai hated Nehru because of his attitude. Infact Bandung conference Zhou Enlai became a hero and Nehru lost his chance to impress

[@gmilind]

A reputed channel like this one should not take advertisements from Franklin whose dubious past ( recent debacle in closing the debt funds unilaterally ) creates a dent. I request shekhar Gupta to not to take Ads from Franklin.

[@mallikarjungupta1687]

What an amazing piece of history. Thank you for bringing it to us.

[@ululukululu450]

Fact: pm of Nepal had asked premier Zhou En Lai to allow Nepal to become a part of China, during his visit to Nepal in 1950s.

[@AkshatSharma1505]

@@ululukululu450 Source?

[@Amidat]

nefarious piece of history - but yes the survivors are amazing..

[@rajeshmallik9720]

Zhou made a fool of india...

[@savithakl7577]

He hated Nehru not India

[@gil47]

What a amazing brave Indian ,you would never hear from our own media praises because our media is consuming Bollywood garbage .

[@agotti]

Sweet! Was just waiting for my daily dose of CTC! and it arrives.

[@iqbal1958]

How a Person based in Dhaka can take a paid membership? Do you have plans to launch it for Bangladesh? Regards Mohammad Iqbal

[@MilindKarnik-yg8pi]

Thank you very much for the excellent narration. Sad to here that Capt. M. C. Dixit passed away. But incredible to hear that he was 105. My father Anant Karnik also passed away a few years ago. He would have enjoyed listening to this talk

[@euphoricindian]

Incredible story! Can't believe there was so much cooperation between India and China that their topmost leader trusted our airplanes and security. Thank you SG sir for your amazing narration!

[@keshavchaturvedi6782]

Had the good fortune of meeting the pilot. He was eloquent about his escape from the burning drowned plane but had little inkling about the alrger conspiracy that SG has unraveled

[@anujthakur6684]

Lucky bisht sir explain this conspiracy very perfectly which is top secret and never published in the world So also watch his pordcast and china is also not a doodh ka dhula RN kau sir saved us

[@sankalp6872]

ThePrint subscription is worth every penny. There is no pretense or condescending. Just honest exchange of information. Even the comment section here is largely educational. The range of topics are spectacular and Gupta's assessments while not always accurate or agreeable are certainly bold.

[@helcurt2509]

Please acknowledge the Indian Express. It is their story

[@ThePrintIndia]

thank you so much...shekhar

[@ambassador3365]

He is a leftist , naxal , communist supporter . Now trying to be something else 😂

[@HarmanHundal01]

The Chinese spell (Maharaja) Ranjit Singh’s name as Ren-Chi-Xing in their reports of the Sino-Sikh wars.

[@jayantjoshi6282]

Capt. Mahesh Chandra Dikshit was my late fathers friend. I have met him several times

[@digitalsurfer5458]

Wow, please tell us something more about him. His personality or some more incidents that he may have shared with you.

[@MrPoornakumar]

It is the experience of all, that a person nearing 85 or 90 can't arrange his thoughts (past experience) in a meaningful sequence of events, for us to derive benefit out of them. It is the reason why it is a good idea to get information about their experiences before they reach 80.

[@The_Couch_Critic]

Loved your narration SG. It was brilliant and gave goosebumps. That mention of Dr Bhaba was a great touch for completeness. Lots has happened in history and it emphasises that today's geopolitics cannot be seen in black and white

[@vtalk6071]

Yeah,Rightly said

[@nitovatorsnitj]

Wikipedia says that a Janitor Chow Tse-ming was the prime suspect, not an engineer. Is wikipedia incorrect?

[@PraveenCJRegina]

Can anyone name a political incident without a US hand?

[@everuttejon9886]

Bhaba, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi all were assassinated by CIA....

[@sokikrong2649]

We all know who killed Homi Jahangir Bhabha.

[@uditpathak6369]

Pls make a CTC or economic episode on BIS report showing unrecorded - hidden debt of $80 TRILLION.

[@satgubi]

SG is wrong...Hong Kong was not Chinese but British territory until 1997

[@soyuz281]

Technically he is right. Hong Kong was leased from China by UK until 1997. UK never colonized or annex Hong Kong.

[@stunstar4553]

Hong Kong was leased by Britain for 99 years

[@UwUO-OUwU]

When The Majaraja's used to fly The emperor Kanishka, Kashmiri Princess, Ashoka The Great etc!! Hope these decorations of the Maharaja returns now that it's back in its real home. Interestingly a part of this story appears in the biography of JRD Tata the heart & Soul behind Air India. When an Air India exec reached Singapore and Saw Zhou Enlai, he enquired about the chartered Air India plane which was supposed to take Zhou Enlai. And for that, Zhou Enlai replied a one liner "You didn't know?"

[@digitalsurfer5458]

On our local TV channels, there is a seriers called "Turbulent skies" or something like that. The story is of 30's when powerful aviation industrialists were competing with each other for the rights of the best aircraft (steel vs wooden). There was a race from the US to Australia to declare the winner aircraft. DC-2 was the most popular machine back then.

[@a0756536]

Makes one wonder about CDS Rawat.

[@adityawahi8542]

This was one hell of an interesting story...glad that you covered this 👍🏼

[@dronasystems]

Sekha should be addressed as Professor Sekhar, he makes any story interesting. Also for some reason Professors explanations stick on to memory. @print

[@sandeep06roy]

Great research and bringing it to your audience Shekhar. Can you please research on to the Major and Governor during Nehru who saved Tawang?

[@falconabc2731]

Excellent narration...I hope other journalists follow you and improve their standards.

[@chinmaysardesai623]

The picture pf the Air India Lockheed L-749A Constellation shown in the video is not the Kashmir Princess (Registration: VT-DEP ) but of Bengal Princess (Registration: VT-DEO). The registration is printed on the plane, seen in the picture.

[@srajandikshit7590]

Ahh I see you're a man of culture as well

[@arnavsingh00]

Mhmh came here to say this touché sir touché

[@vijaykumar-vz7xf]

Excellent!! Thanks for the fwg:- 1. For choosing this off-beat story. 2. For highlighting reminding us of the bravery of some of our unsung heroes. 3. For throwing light into the complex greys of the early cold-war geo-politics and the ruthless ways of dealing with threats those days (a little better these days, I feel!! ) 4. For stitching in all of these into a rivetting story.

[@sureshbhave9992]

Thanks for piecing together the story of Kasmir Princess. I was five then and read a sketchy article about it in a widely read Marathi magazine then. Your story blew away the dust of time from that memory. At that time, Captain Jatar (pronounced Jataar) and Ms Gloria Berry were my heroes. Thanks bringing them out of the oblivion.

[@akashbenny5397]

Gloria berry💖

[@bipinjoshi5215]

Mr. Gupta as I understand Hong Kong Island was on perpetual lease with the British as distinct from the New Territories which were on a 99 year lease. Thus Main HK Island owned by the UK.

[@okee7]

I remember reading how the cockpit crew survived 80’ waves when they crashed in the ocean; till they were found dehydrated in the islands of Indonesia. The co pilot lost his nerve to fly again after this trauma…..unfortunately I never knew about Gloria Berry 😢

[@rohit_dalmia]

Without knowing the past, one cannot truly appreciate the present. Episodes like this give millennials like me a slice of History. Icing on the cake is Shekharji's skill of story telling.

[@PradeepSharma-zq9ei]

Didn't need this on a busy news day. Could've been a story by someone else. CTC is becoming repetitive and irrelevant day by day.

[@pratapbalakrishna3036]

Lockheed Constellation, triple tail AirIndia flight Indian Princess

[@sabyasachibandyopadhyay8558]

Thank you for highlighting another of "Pandit" Nehru's major diplomatic failures. He rightly deserves all the flak he draws.

[@krr3502]

Legends of the great R.N.KAO

[@HRC294]

Simply Amazing!!

[@SkSingh-tu8un]

A priceless nugget buried deep in the pages of history....narrated by Mr Gupta with his customary humour and attention to the minutest detail which makes one marvel at the courage of the pilot and flight stewardess who perished while trying their utmost to save others

[@ThePrintIndia]

Details are very important...thank you for being there...shekhar

[@SkSingh-tu8un]

@@ThePrintIndia certainly a gripping account of the final moments of the doomed plane....almost felt like a eyewitness...have seen the video again and again and shared it with friends and acquaintances... thankyou again

[@dandmello5283]

👌Superb (Knowledge + wisdom) 👍its Great (because you were there in 1970's days only you can explain and talk OffHand) 🙏Thank you ShekarGuptaSir for the exhaustive information it's worth ❤

[@aditya-ul1ro]

Spymaster Kao is a movie. Film industry is sleeping.

[@manjulashanmugasundaram706]

Who in the industry is cool enough to play R.N Kao?

[@fieldagent7170]

@@manjulashanmugasundaram706 Few Are certainly.

[@nv8966]

CIA/US was also behind the death of Homi

[@everuttejon9886]

Bhaba, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi all were assassinated by CIA....

[@Codetutor-DemystifyCoding]

Excellent narration and story telling.

[@ShivamTiwari-iz8nh]

1st

[@devgupta8815]

The book Kashmir Princess should have been given credit to. The 1966 crash of the AI 707 on Mont Blanc ( 400 miles SE of Paris ) on its descent to Geneva, was a CIA job got take out Bhaba and delay India's Atomic program. The Altimeter was tampered with at an intermediate stop. A thorough search of the Net would have revealed it. But he is right about Kai Two and underwear size

[@everuttejon9886]

Bhaba, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi all were assassinated by CIA

[@ambassador3365]

It is sad that most of the Indians dont seem to know these events but learn about Aurangzeb, babur, Akbar

[@rintimukherjee2551]

I read this incident in a book called Kashmir Princes. DK Jatter and my uncle learned flying together in Delhi Flying club Air hostess Gloria Berry bravery was mentioned in details.

[@somavaramniran2324]

Mr Gupta you were hyper ventilating about AAP victory but it's seems your baloon is half deflated soon by 8th December you will be fully deflated.

[@rdxx4073]

Why do you care what he says be a aandhbakt and do your duty spread hate and bigotry....

[@sachin14]

A webseries or movie should be made on this story

[@sm7786]

Super, What a story! Great CTC episode, Shekhar. 👏🏼🙏🏻👏🏼

[@ei2m]

Superb episode!

[@dandmello5283]

Shekarji, that was pretty good Advertisement....about 'self employment ' ...it's true... And once again thanks a lot to you too.

[@kirandeepchakraborty7921]

These are the best topics for CTC. Love the insights.

[@tyronefisher5723]

I love the way THIS MAN wraps it up in the end eh........ He's probably a scholar......or most likely studied scholars and stuff.

[@rajx7120]

I read about this, in the book - The War that made RAW, which was promoted by ThePrint.

[@bhatt24101982]

Dont gv ideas to Akshay kumar

[@adydee1]

I wish you’d do more of these kind of stories ….

[@emotionalIntelligence2078]

You mentioned 1966 homi bhabha and Malabar princess incident. Well Shastri succumbed to death the same year during the cold war.

[@nobufrancis685]

Wow great thank you for this revelation Shekhar ji 👌👌👌

[@gireeshjha4642]

Many many thanks for unraveling the conspiracy behind the crash of Kashmir Princess.

[@vigilanthuman]

Is this abridged version? I am having a de javu

[@whatslifespurpose]

That is an amazing report and story! Wish India and China had good relations today just like those times.

[@ThePrintIndia]

thank you for watching...these are the kind of stories that make a journalist's work interesting...shekhar

[@everuttejon9886]

CIA is plotting these kinds of incidents against Modi and Xi Jinping so Modi and Xi doesn't visit the Western nations regularly now

[@fieldagent7170]

It was one sided love. China never treated us as friends.

[@farhanahamed2061]

Thank you for this story. Very interesting. I never knew India and China were so close

[@shadow_prince_rex]

Great story.... Superbly narrated guptaji.... Well done 👍🏽

[@DeepSoulMelodies-KawalDeepKour]

Thanks to the Indian National Archives where one can access the records running into hundreds of pages regarding the "Kashmir Princess".

[@mtarkes]

Dont worry, Bollywood will not fail to a shoddy movie about this.

[@sanjaythomasjohn]

KZbin showing me Mukhbir trailer before the video felt fitting

[@sohambanerjee99]

Unique story! Well Explained! Good old CIA at their best!

[@TheRocky1256]

May be a little bit more effort in pronouncing Chinese names if cut the clutter would want to cover Chinese stories this often now...ha!

[@sushobhansarker9668]

This is a fascinating story of which hardly anything was known to most people until about 2 days before. However, from the story filed by Mr. P. Raman in the online Indian Express as updated on December 7, 2022 it appears that both Capt D. K. Katar and Stewardess Ms. Gloria Berry were each posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra whereas in your Cut the Clutter video you say Ms. Berry was awarded the Keerti Chakra. Can you please clarify/confirm which award did Ms. Berry receive? Also whether the 3 survivors were given any award?

[@milindsovani1457]

Excellent Mr. Shekhar ji. Thanks a lot for such information.

[@mrSamirsri]

Good CTC. Could you consider a CTC on women Gallantry Medal Winners

[@thirupathivarma3024]

Thank you sir.. I always learning something unknown from your videos

[@negimanu8362]

Thanks Sir, was waiting for this ✨show from a very long time even suggested you once after reading the book.

[@tonyraheja1]

Kudos to Capt Jatar, Gloria Berry and the crew ... Calm under pressure.

[@ThePrintIndia]

thank you for watching this episode...shekhar

[@tonyraheja1]

@@ThePrintIndia welcome sir... Looking forward to more aviation stories!

[@shivvanshchouhan8406]

Thankyou for this story 🙏🏼 something other then that election news 😂

[@pikachus5m166]

You can be sure that the release of Sars2 was a joint US/Taiwanese collaboration.

[@bharatindian6633]

A bollywood spy movie can be made on this plot..... And it will be having international appeal.

[@manjulashanmugasundaram706]

I wonder who will play R.N Kao. I don't think there is anybody cool enough.

[@hotelcalifornia715]

R.I.P MC Dixit....Indians now realize they can't trust Nehrus, Gandis, Chinese, US

[@everuttejon9886]

Bhaba, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi all were assassinated by CIA.... ....

[@gvr_20]

Amazing, who else can come up with such piece other than SG ! salute !

[@jayantjoshi6282]

He went out as India's representative at ICAO, Ottawa and retired as Dy. DGCA India

[@pankajkaw6337]

Absolutely brillianly explained by SG. Loved it thoroughly

[@tarvi0987]

At Bandung,Chou also called Nehru a asshole or words to that affect.

[@va-ro]

thanks...