[6] He graduated from the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the combat (fighter) stream of the IAF as a flying officer on 19 June 2004.

[8] He was trained at the IAF centres in Bathinda and Halwara, promoted to flight lieutenant on 19 June 2006,[9] and to squadron leader on 8 July 2010.

[11][13] On 27 February 2019, Varthaman was flying a MiG-21 as a part of a sortie that was scrambled to intercept airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan Air Force.

He lost communications with the IAF command and inadvertently crossed into Pakistani airspace during a dogfight that ensued, during which his aircraft was struck by a missile.

Varthaman ejected and safely descended into the village of Horran in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, approximately 7 km (4.3 miles) from the Line of Control.

[26] The US-based Foreign Policy magazine, quoting two anonymous US defence ministry officials, reported in April 2019 that an audit didn't find any Pakistani F-16s missing, and that all jets were accounted for.

[27][28] A day later, the US defence ministry stated it was “not aware” of any investigation that was conducted to ascertain if Pakistan had lost an F-16 in a dogfight with Indian fighter jets on February 27.

[29][30][31] While the US defence ministry was unaware of the "F-16 count", the US State Department distanced itself from the "F-16 count" news report, saying in response to a direct request to confirm or deny it, “As a matter of policy, the Department does not publicly comment on details of government-to-government agreements on end-use monitoring of US-origin defence articles.” and highlighted that “It is important to note that since January 2018, the United States government has suspended security assistance to Pakistan”.

[34][16][33] The media received a mixed reception; some commentators criticised the reports as a "vulgar display" while others praised the intervention of the Pakistani soldiers when Varthaman was in the hands of the mob and was being beaten.

[39] However, The New York Times reported that several outside countries including United States and China had been urging Pakistan to release the Indian pilot to de-escalate the crisis.

The petition argued Varthaman must be released only after the cessation of active hostilities, as per the Geneva Conventions, since the Indian pilot “was arrested when he was on a mission against Pakistan”.

[61][62][63][64][65] Actor Ranveer Singh's barber, Darshan Yewalekar, has quoted saying that "the beard sported by the IAF pilot will soon be called India's very own Varthaman style.

Dairy company Amul produced a video showing a young girl wearing an Abhinandan-shaped milk moustache.