Indian Airlines Flight 423
Boeing 737-2A8 · Terrorist hijacking
From Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) to Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport (ATQ)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Occurrence
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 117
- Survivors
- 117
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 737-2A8
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- VT-EDR
- Operator
- Indian Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)To Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport (ATQ)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Indian Airlines Flight 423 (IATA No.: IC423) was an Indian Airlines Boeing 737 domestic passenger flight from the Delhi-Palam Airport to the Amritsar-Raja Sansi Airport on 29 September 1981. It was hijacked by five Sikh militants of the Dal Khalsa organization (armed with daggers and a hand grenade) and taken to Lahore Airport in Pakistan. The plane had 111 passengers and 6 crew members on board. The Dal Khalsa had been demanding a separate Sikh homeland of Khalistan.
The leader of the hijackers, Gajender Singh, talked to Natwar Singh, India's ambassador in Pakistan, and put forward his demands. Singh had demanded the release of militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and others, and a sum of $500,000 in cash.
Pakistan rescued the passengers upon request from India. Pakistan took commando action using its elite SSG which cleared the plane and got all passengers released. The hijackers faced trial in Pakistan and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The accused, Satnam Singh, after completing his sentence, returned to India and was put on trial there too. However, the court discharged him, stating that the accused had already been tried for the same offence and served his sentence in Pakistan.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Indian Airlines Flight 423” (revision 1360545014, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Indian Airlines Flight 423
- Article
- Indian Airlines Flight 423
- Revision
- 1360545014 · 2026-06-22 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q55614412
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Indian Airlines Flight 423" (page 57892068, revision 1360545014)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.