Purvesh Duragkar

Biography

Purvesh Duragkar, aged 28, completed his schooling in Nagpur, Maharashtra, before joining the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot. He served with the 47 Squadron based at Jorhat Air Force Station and had earlier participated in Operation Sindoor, conducted against terror camps following the Pahalgam attack of 2025. On 5 March 2026, he was the co-pilot of a Su-30MKI that departed Jorhat on a routine training sortie. The aircraft disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff and crashed at Inglong Ekopi Hill in the Bokajan sub-division of Karbi Anglong district in Assam, about 60 km from the airbase. Both pilots sustained fatal injuries. He had visited home for a family gathering just ten days before the tragedy.