Six people lost their lives after a private helicopter crashed near Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday afternoon, with one of the victims identified as Bengaluru police officer Arun Salunke. The 2007-batch Karnataka Police Inspector, who was serving with Bengaluru’s Central Crime Branch (CCB), was returning from a Char Dham pilgrimage with four friends when the accident occurred.
Flight details and crash site
The helicopter was operated by Trans Bharat Aviation and was flying from Badrinath to Sahastradhara heliport in Dehradun. According to the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA), the aircraft, registered as VT-HCX, took off from Badrinath at about 1:14 PM before losing radio contact and stopping location transmission while crossing the Joshimath valley.
The aircraft is reported to have gone down on a hillside near Chai village, close to the JP Power House in the Marwari area of Joshimath. Search and rescue work was complicated by heavy rainfall and dense cloud cover in the area, which were reported at the time of the incident.
Rescue operation and victims
Once the helicopter was reported missing, teams from the Indian Army, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), local police and the Chamoli district administration were moved into action. The wreckage was later found, and the bodies of all six occupants were recovered.
The deceased were identified as Captain Himanshu Sabharwal, the pilot from Delhi, and five passengers from Bengaluru: Police Inspector Arun Salunke, advocate Sudheer K, H.S. Nataraj, Prathapa and Shankare Gowda. The five friends had travelled to Uttarakhand earlier in the week for the Char Dham pilgrimage.
Who was Arun Salunke
Arun Salunke belonged to Aratal village in Athani taluk of Karnataka’s Belagavi district. His father and brother live in the native village, where the news of his death caused deep grief. He lived with his wife and two children in Ramamurthy Nagar, Bengaluru.
An alumnus of M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bengaluru, Salunke joined the police service in 2007. He started his career as an Intelligence Inspector in Delhi and later held several postings in Karnataka.
Over the years, he served at police stations including Nelamangala, Kunigal, Banaswadi and Halasuru, and also worked in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). At the time of his death, he was posted with the special investigation division of Bengaluru’s Central Crime Branch.
Reaction and official response
Colleagues remembered Salunke for his dedication to duty and approachable nature. During his posting at Banaswadi Police Station, the station was recognised as one of Bengaluru’s best-performing police stations under a public feedback initiative.
Beyond policing, he had a strong interest in Kannada literature and poetry. He also shared his writings and his appreciation for literature and cinema on social media.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami confirmed the crash and said he was monitoring the situation. Aviation authorities later grounded Trans Bharat Aviation’s entire helicopter fleet as a precautionary step.
The exact cause of the crash has not yet been officially established. While poor weather and reduced visibility were reported, investigators will have to determine how the aircraft lost communication and came down in mountainous terrain.
The incident has once again brought attention to helicopter operations in Uttarakhand’s difficult Himalayan environment, especially when weather conditions turn adverse. For Bengaluru Police, it also means the sudden loss of an officer who had served in multiple significant assignments over nearly two decades.
