Wrongly fitted gearbox cap helped Borge detect pebbles: FIR

An awkwardly fitted cap of the gearbox of industrialist Anil Ambani's helicopter is what led maintenance technician Bharat Borge to detect pebbles inside, says the FIR lodged in the case with Airport police station.

"According to the FIR, Bharat Borge first saw an awkwardly positioned cap after which he informed Sudhakar Surve, an administrative officer at Air Works," police said. Surve then approached police and lodged a complaint.

Borge, a maintenance technician at Air Works, was found dead on the railway tracks under mysterious circumstances four days after this alarming discovery.

The crime branch has so far arrested two accused, Uday Manohar Warikar (32) and Palraj Ganpati Thevar (38), helpers with the aircraft maintenance company. Warikar allegedly planted seven pebbles in the gearbox cap while Thevar aided him, police said.

Surve in his complaint stated that Borge along with Warikar and Thevar had checked the chopper that belonged to Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and had gone for lunch in the afternoon on April 23, police said. While Borge examined the technical part, Warikar and Thevar had cleaned the chopper, Surve said in his complaint.

After lunch break, Borge once again examined the chopper and spotted the cap of the gearbox was in wrong direction, the complaint says.

Surve in his complaint has also told police about previous incidents reported at the Air Works hangar. Going by the seriousness of the crime, the case was transferred to crime branch, which has so far arrested the two Air Works employees and is interrogating them.

Police also ruled out any business rivalry in the sabotage case and said investigation indicated that a tiff between union members of the company and the management led to the incident. Crime branch officials said that investigation was still on in the case.