IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack – Episode 2 Recap & Review

Episode 2

Episode 2 of IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack starts with Mukul talking to Sanjay Mehta, asking him to try and get any information about the hijacking from the terrorist – Masood. Despite his efforts, Masood does not divulge anything to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director.

The Cabinet Secretary – Vinay Kaul learns that the plane will have to land in India and asks for the situation to be curtailed within India’s borders.

At the same time, Ranjan goes to the Airport Authority Control room and tries to get in touch with the pilot – Sharan. V K Agarwal learns that Ram was able to capture the man who drove the 5 hijackers to the airport. He tries to bribe the man to try and get information about the mysterious red bag. Despite a lot of beating and coaxing, the driver refuses to reveal the truth about the contents of the bag.

On the other hand, Shalini tries to stop Nandini from writing news articles about sensitive information which could hamper the security of the passengers. D R Sivaramakrishnan (DRS) and Abhijeet try to find out who the hijackers are and learn that Ram had already shared details about Amjad Farooqui aka Doctor. They regret their oversight and try to save themselves by hiding it from their superiors.

At the Crisis Management Group meeting, J P Kohli scolds his team for overlooking the intel sent by Ram weeks ago. He asks Mukul to try and make a list of the passengers who were on board and tally the number of women and children. Vinay call shows up at the crisis meeting and scolds the IB and RAW officers for being incompetent in curtailing the attack before it was executed.

External Affairs Minister – Vijaybhan Singh arrives at the meeting and Ranjan reveals that there are 5 hijackers on the plane who were armed with knives, pistols and grenades. Additionally, he reveals an old voice recording shared by Ram wherein the terrorists claim to be willing to sacrifice themselves and kill the passengers on the plane.

DRS reveals that the voice on the recording is Amjad Farooqui (aka Doctor), a militant who is infamous for being a brutal killer.

On the plane, the hijackers ask Sharan to try and land the plane in Lahore, Pakistan. Ranjan refuses the order and asks the ATC (Air Traffic Control) to refuse permission to connect with Lahore. Kohli suggests that the plane be landed in Amritsar, India instead where the NSG Commandos can start an operation and rescue the passengers.

DRS claims that Pakistan will not allow the plane to land in Lahore. When Sharan talks to the Lahore ATC and is refused permission to land in Pakistan. Chief is dumbfounded and goes out of the cockpit to talk to the other hijackers.

The ministers learn that a VIP named Chauhan was on the flight and are worried. They cut his name out of the list of passengers to try and keep the information a secret from anyone else.

The family members of the passengers get curious when the flight is further delayed from landing in Delhi as it was supposed to. Chief talks to Doctor who agrees to let the plane land in Amritsar for refuelling. Captain Ravi asks his troops to be sent to Amritsar but Vijaybhan states that the hijackers will not allow the plane to be stalled in Amritsar for hours.

V K Agarwal offers to seek help from an old friend who could send commandos to the airport in Amritsar at the soonest. DRS asks Abhijeet to send out confidential cables to neighbouring countries seeking their help in this situation if the plane leaves the Indian borders. V K Agarwal tells Ranjan that the commandos were waiting for official permission from the CM of Punjab (Amritsar).

Meanwhile, the hijackers separate the male passengers from the women and children and there is chaos on the plane. On the other hand, the driver finally starts revealing some information about the terrorists. He tells Ram that a similar red bag was given to a man in Kathmandu. Ram leaves to look for the man but is attacked.

Ram and his team member manages to escape. They capture the man but the driver is killed in the process. The hijacked plane finally lands in Amritsar. However, as the commandos do not have permission to attack, the plane is stalled by delaying the fuel bowser.

Doctor slices a male passenger’s throat and stabs another to threaten the officials. Sharan panics and asks for the fuel bowser to be sent immediately. Due to the continued stalling, the hijackers suspect something fishy and force Sharan to take off without refuelling as the episode ends.

The Episode Review

The violence has just begun and I am worried that the passenger whose throat was slit is the one victim in this hijacking. The hijackers have taken charge of the plane for hours now and we do not know what they want yet. It feels like Nandini is a strong voice and we see a unique take from the media in such a situation.

There is so much pressure on Sharan and each episode has me on the edge of my seat. I am looking forward to what happens in the next episode as we know that the plane is soon going to leave the Indian Airspace. The true nationality of the hijackers is unknown and the next few moments of the show will give us some information on this, based on Pakistan’s reaction to the hijacking information. 

We know that the hijackers want to take the plane to Afghanistan but it would not come as a shocker if this attack was planned by ISI and Pakistan. On to the next episode!