This 1971 war hero is trapped by Chandigarh’s red tape

5 min readChandigarhJul 26, 2026 12:06 PM IST Decorated with the Vir Chakra, India’s third-highest wartime gallantry award, Group Captain Sandhu flew 34 missions in a single day during the 1971 war and emerged unscathed despite his Mi-4 helicopter being riddled with more than three dozen bullet holes. (Express)Group Captain C.S. Sandhu (retd), a Vir Chakra and Vayu Sena Medal awardee who survived Pakistani gunfire during the 1971 war while piloting helicopters in one of the defining operations of the Bangladesh Liberation War, is now fighting a very different battle. The 88-year-old war hero, suffering from serious health problems, has spent nearly a year struggling with the Chandigarh Administration for permission to install an elevator in his residential building. Decorated with the Vir