Lt Col Mandar Suhas Nene

Lt Col Mandar Nene hailed from Pune district of Maharashtra and was born on 02 December 1974. Son of Shri Suhas Nene (Retd Indian Navy) and Smt Geeta, he had a brother Vivek as his sibling(who too joined the Indian Army). Lt Col Mandar Nene did his schooling at Muktangan English School in Pune and later joined Sir Parshurambhau College Pune for his higher studies. He got selected for the prestigious NDA after completing his Class XII and joined the course in June 1993. He passed out of NDA in 1996 and went for further training to the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He was commissioned into the 7 Engr Regt of the Corps of Engineers, one of the oldest arms of the Indian Army. 

After serving for few years, Lt Col Mandar got married to Ms Priya and the couple was blessed with a son Advait and a daughter Aastha. By 2010, Lt Col Mandar had put in 13 years of service and had served in various places with different terrain and operational conditions. He developed into a committed soldier and fine officer, who was known for his professionalism and dedication to service. During 2010, Lt Col Nene’s unit was deployed in the Tawang area in the North East sector.

Air Maintenance Operation: 19 Nov 2010

During November 2010,  Lt Col Mandar Nene's unit was deployed in Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh.  On 19 Nov 2010, as part of an operational task, Lt Col Mandar Nene was on board an “air-maintenance” sortie on  Mi-17 around Tawang area, which was located about 9,000 feet above the ground near the Chinese border. “Air-maintenance” sorties meant helicopter-aided support of forward army posts on the China frontier, at altitudes of 8,000ft to 14,000ft, where winds were high and oxygen density was almost 30 percent lower, and where supplies were either para-dropped or the helicopters made touch-and-go landings. The air-maintenance sortie of Mi-17 helicopter belonging to 110 Helicopter Unit of the IAF took off from Tawang as planned on 19 Nov 2010 with 12 passengers on board including the air crew. Mi-17 with Flt Lt Akash Yadav as captain and Flt Lt N Rai as co-pilot had a smooth flight in the beginning, but apparently developed a serious snag after some time. It was seen to have suffered a blast in the mid air and crashed.   

The ill-fated Mi-17 helicopter crashed near the China frontier on a wooden hillock at Tepsha village near Bomdir area, about 6km from Tawang, from where it had taken off, at about 12:04 pm, leaving no survivors. This was the second time a plane had crashed mid-air on China's frontier in the same year. Lt Col Mandar Nene was among the 12 soldiers who lost their lives in this horrific accident. Besides Lt Col Mandar, the other soldiers included Flt Lt Akash Yadav, Flt Lt N Rai, Sgt M Debanath, Sgt MK Sharma, Cpl P Singh, AC Rahul, LAC A Bhandari, LAC S Kumar, Sgt A Kumar, LAC Sudhakar and LAC Mohan. Lt Col Mandar Nene was a valiant soldier and dedicated officer, who laid down his life in the service of the nation.

Lt Col Mandar Nene is survived by his father Shri Suhas Nene, mother Smt Geeta, wife Smt Priya, son Advait, daughter Aastha, and brother Shri Vivek.