
Sergeant Raj Kishore Sahu belonged to Cuttack in Orissa and was born on 29 November 1971. He was born to Mr. Krishna Chandra Sahu. He was a single child of his parents. He was recruited in Indian Air Force in 1989. In 1997, he took the training of Flight Engineer and became Flight Engineer after completing the training. Till 1999, he had completed 360 hours of flying. On Mi-17. He had served in various Air Force Stations in his 10 years of service. During 1999, he was posted with No 152 Helicopter Unit Squadron.
During 1999, No 152 squadron Helicopter Unit, was operating in J&K, the unit was operating Mi-17 helicopters. By May 1999, Indian Forces, got to know about the infiltration of Pakistan army-backed terrorists. Indian Forces were tasked to eliminate them and take our posts and area in our control. 152 Squadron was also tasked for the same, in Drass. On the 28th of May, Sergeant Raj Kishore Sahu was in a Mi-17 helicopter as a flight gunner, and the helicopter was flown by Flight Lieutenant Muhilan. The enemy forces were equipped with anti-aircraft and surface-to-air missiles, but despite these dangers, all the forces were doing their tasks with full dedication and with full passion to win for the country. The Mi-17 helicopter repeatedly carried out attacks in the face of fierce enemy opposition in the form of ground fire and missiles. Unfortunately, in one of the retaliatory actions by the enemy forces the helicopter got hit by the U.S made Stinger SAM (surface to air missile). The helicopter got hit directly by the missile, and the helicopter crashed immediately without giving any time to evacuate from the helicopter. And all the air force personnel inside the helicopter died in this accident. There was a total 5 person, which was Squadron Leader Rajiv Pundir, Flight Lieutenant S Muhilan, Sergeant Raj Kishor Sahu, and Sergeant PVNR Prasad. All the personnel displayed exemplary courage and bravery despite heaving high risk to themself, but they choose to serve the country and prioritized the operation before anything.
Sergeant Raj Kishore Sahu is survived by his father Shri Krishna Chandra Sahu.