The other four: two veteran fliers,a cop and an officer

Capt Reddy’s wife was at her home in Nalgonda when the news of the disappearance of her husband’s helicopter came in. She is said to be in shock.

Before becoming a pilot,Reddy was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army — he took voluntary retirement and obtained a commercial pilot’s licence.

The chief pilot of the ill-fated helicopter was also an armed forces veteran,and an even more experienced flier. Group Captain S K Bhatia,an Indian Air Force officer on deputation with the Andhra Pradesh government,had logged 5,600 flying hours.

Bhatia’s wife,Sarla,was learnt to have gone into partial coma at their home in Yapral,Secunderabad. She is reportedly in no condition to talk even to relatives. One of the Bhatias’ sons is a third year engineering student,another is in Class 8. Phonecalls made to the Bhatia home went unanswered.

To the family of P Subramaniam,Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister,fate has dealt a cruel blow. It was only two days ago,on August 31,that Special Secretary K Prabhakar Reddy,the man who would usually accompany the CM on visits outside Hyderabad,retired. Since Subramaniam was in charge of rural development in the Chief Minister’s Office,he decided to accompany the CM to his mass contact programme in Chittoor.

Officials in the CM’s office said Subramaniam made his plans only the night before the flight: till Tuesday evening,he had been under the impression that the CM was going on a private visit. It was only late that night that YSR said he was going for a Racchchhabanda mass contact programme — and it was decided that Subramaniam would accompany him.

Unlike Capt M S Reddy and Principal Secretary Subramaniam,the burly policeman A Sanjay Wesley — who also died in the crash — was commonly seen in public. Three months ago,he was made the CM’s Chief Security Officer — he was Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Task Force) in Hyderabad before that.

Wesley was a well-liked and respected officer. A large number of police officers,friends and neighbours gathered this morning at his apartment in Shantinagar in the city. Wesley has a 6-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son.

“He rose from the rank of Deputy SP after passing the AP State Police Service exam. His juniors liked him a lot. He treated them very well,but he was also a tough cop,” said the Additional DG (Law and Order),who visited the Wesley home.