Dr. Homi Bhabha (aka: the father of Indian nuclear program) died when Air India Flight 101 crashed near Mont Blanc on 24 January 1966. RT Crowley (1924 – 2000), who was second in command of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations and in charge of covert operations, talks about the assassinations of Homi Bhabha, a brilliant Parsi physicist who was the first head of India’s Department of Atomic Energy, and of Lal Bahadur Shastri (1/66), who was India’s Prime Minister from 1964 to 1966, in an interview revealing that both were CIA hits and were part of a failed attempt to stop India from developing nuclear capability.
RTC: Was, Gregory, let’s use the past tense, if you please. Name was Homi Bhabha. That one was dangerous, believe me. He had an unfortunate accident. He was flying to Vienna to stir up more trouble, when his 707 had a bomb go off in the cargo hold and they all came down on a high mountain way up in the Alps. No real evidence and the world was much safer.
GD: Was Ali Baba alone on the plane?
RTC: No it was a commercial Air India flight.
GD: How many people went down with him?
RTC: Ah, who knows and frankly, who cares?
GD: I suppose if I had a relative on the flight I would care.
RTC: Did you?
GD: No.
RTC: Then don’t worry about it. We could have blown it up over Vienna but we decided the high mountains were much better for the bits and pieces to come down on. I think a possible death or two among mountain goats is much preferable than bringing down a huge plane right over a big city.
GD: I think that there were more than goats, Robert.
RTC: Well, aren’t we being a bleeding-heart today?
GD: Now, now, it’s not an observation that is unexpected. Why not send him a box of poisoned candy? Shoot him in the street? Blow up his car? I mean, why ace a whole plane full of people?
RTC: Well, I call it as it see it. At the time, it was our best shot. And we nailed Shastri as well. Another cow-loving raghead. Gregory, you say you don’t know about these people. Believe me, they were close to getting a bomb and so what if they nuked their deadly Paki enemies? So what? Too many people in both countries. Breed like rabbits and full of snake-worshipping twits. I don’t for the life of me see what the Brits wanted in India. And then threaten us? They were in the sack with the Russians, I told you. Maybe they could nuke the Panama Canal or Los Angeles. We don’t know that for sure, but it is not impossible.
GD: Who was Shastri?
RTC: A political type who started the program in the first place. Babha was a genius and he could get things done, so we aced both of them. And we let certain people there know that there was more where that came from.
Homi Jehangir Bhabha, FRS (Hindi: होमी भाभा; 30 October 1909 — 24 January 1966) was an Indian nuclear physicist, founding director, and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Colloquially known as “father of Indian nuclear program”, Bhabha was the founding director of two well-known research institutions, namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Trombay Atomic Energy Establishment (now named after him); both sites were the cornerstone of Indian development of nuclear weapons which Bhabha also supervised as its director.
Up to 117 people had been killed after an Air India Boeing 707 crashed near the summit of Mont Blanc in the Alps. The plane was on a regular Bombay to New York flight when the accident happened at around 0800 local time.
All 106 passengers and 11 crew were killed on the aircraft as it prepared to land at Geneva airport in Switzerland of the victims included chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha, who was on his way to Vienna.
The remaining passengers were Indian nationals, 46 of whom were sailors. Six were British. The cause of the crash is not known. Captain of the Air India Boeing 707, who was one of the airline’s most experienced pilots, had told the control tower a few minutes earlier to report that his instruments were working fine and the aircraft was flying at 19,000ft (5,791 metres)- at least 3,000ft (514 metres) higher than the Mont Blanc summit. Shortly after, the plane crashed into the mountain.
There have been a spate of deaths in India’s nuclear and atomic energy sector which are worrying. Between 2009 and 2013, at least 10 employees in department of atomic energy (DAE) lost their lives in murders and mysterious fires. When Homi J Bhabha died on Air India Flight 101, which crashed in January 1966 near Mont Blanc in the Swiss Alps, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called his untimely demise a blow to India. The tragic death of India’s foremost nuclear scientist came at a crucial time for India’s atomic energy program, which was just taking off. Conspiracy theorists pointed to possible sabotage by the CIA, aimed at obstructing India’s nuclear program.
From <http://indiafacts.org/list-of-indian-nuclear-scientists-who-died-mysterious-deaths/>
