Death

Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's Bell430 helicopter went missing on Wednesday, 2 September 2009 at 9:35 am. Begumpet and Shamshabad Aor Traffic Controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 9:02 am while it was passing through the dense Nallamala forest area. The Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, P. Ramakanth Reddy , said that inclement weather had forced the helicopter off-course. Although the sparsely populated forest area is considered to be stronghold of the outlawed Naxal communist insurgents, the National Security Advisor of India ruled out the possibility of the Naxals bringing down the helicopter.

The state government of Andhra Pradesh and the Govt of India launched one of the largest search and rescue operations in the history of the country. The state's security officials mentioned that bad weather was hindering the search and rescue efforts. The Home Ministry of India dispatched 5000 CRPF soldiers for the operation while the Defence Ministry of India ordered the Indian AirForce to comb the area using low altitude planes and the Sukhoi30 equipped with thermal imaging system. In addition, Police personnelsix districts were involved in the ground search. Andhra Pradesh's anti-Naxal forces were also deployed in the area, owing to their familiarity with the jungle terrain there. Local tribal residents from this part of the state assisted with the search mission. Patrol parties also combed the Krishna river for the remains of the helicopter.ISRO satellite was also deployed to search the area, but the 41 high-resolution images of the area were unable to trace the helicopter.

The wreckage of the helicopter was finally spotted by an IAF DHRUV helicopter more than 24 hours after contact was lost with Reddy's Bell 430 helicopter. The Indian Prime Minister's Office confirmed the helicopter's crash on the morning of 3 September and the death of all aboard, including Reddy, his special secretary P. Subrahmanyam, chief security officer A. S. C. Wesley, Group Captain S. K. Bhatia and Captain M. S. Reddy. The Director General of Police said that the bodies of Reddy and others were charred beyond recognition and had to be identified on the basis of clothing. The autopsy of all the bodies was carried out at Kurnool Medical College.

Reddy's body was buried on 4 September at Idupulapai in Kadapa district with full state honors in accordance with Christian rites.