NEW DELHI: Indian lawmaker Amrinder Singh Raja has admitted that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down an Indian Air Force Rafale fighter jet during the May 2025 conflict, contradicting the Indian government’s official stance.
According to Amrinder Singh Raja, a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, the rudder of the aircraft was found near Bassiana Air Force Station in Punjab and bore the marking BS-001, identifying it as part of a Rafale jet.
The incident reportedly resulted in one fatality and nine injuries.
He went on to say that the Indian Air Marshal also accepted the crash but labelled the aircraft as “unidentified.” Raja accused the Air Marshal of hiding the truth from the Indian public, calling it a deliberate attempt to downplay the loss.
Earlier, Indian opposition parties launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in parliament, accusing his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of mishandling the four-day conflict with Pakistan.
In early May, India launched deadly air strikes on Pakistan over allegations about the Pahalgam attack without presenting any credible evidence.
Pakistan had condemned the Pahalgam incident and strongly denied Indian allegations as baseless.
In response to Indian aggression, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) downed six Indian fighter jets, including French-made Rafales. Despite confirmations from international sources and France, India has consistently denied any such losses.
After tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took the US intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally reach a ceasefire.
US President Donald Trump, speaking at a dinner with Republican lawmakers at the White House, also said: “Planes were being shot out of the air. Five, I think five jets were shot down actually,” referring to the conflict between India and Pakistan.
