More heads set to roll in fake pilot scam

Rajasthan police submits a fresh list of pilots who may have procured papers illegally from flying school, awaits DGCA reply

More heads set to roll in fake pilot scam

Rajasthan police submits a fresh list of pilots who may have procured papers illegally from flying school, awaits DGCA reply

More heads may role in the fake pilot scam in the coming days as the investigating agencies probing the case are working overtime to zero in on the main the culprits.

The Anti Corruption Bureau of the Rajasthan police, which broke the case of fake pilots by exposing the role of
the Rajasthan State Flying School and the Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation, has furnished a new list of pilots to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
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"We are skeptical about the authenticity of a large number of licenses issued by the state flying school. So we have furnished a new list of suspected pilots to the DGCA, we are waiting for their reply," said Umesh Mishra, Inspector General of the ACB, Rajasthan police.

A highly-placed source in the civil aviation ministry confirmed the development. "We have received queries from the investigation agencies on certain cases, we will reply soon," he said.

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch of Delhi police have turned the heat on the absconding accused.

They have already issued a look out notice against three pilots Swaran Singh Talwar, Syed Habib Ali and Bhupinder Singh and a flying instructor D Asatkar.

All airports and ports have been put on alert to prevent them from fleeing the country. "Now our priority is to nab absconders at the earliest," said Ashok Chhand DCP of Delhi Police Crime Branch.

On April 5, the Crime Branch of the Delhi police had arrested two DGCA officials Mohammed Qasim Ansari and Mahan Jyoti Bhattacharya who allegedly helped Hiren Nagar and Abhishek Kaushik in getting the commercial pilot licences.

The Delhi police and Rajasthan police have arrested about 13 people, including pilots and instructors,
in the fake pilot scam so far.

Future tense
The DGCA is scrutinising over 10,000 commercial pilot licences, more than 4,000 airline transport
pilot licences and 40 flying schools across the country.

Touts charge anything between Rs 7 and 13 lakh for a commercial pilot license, excluding Rs 2-4 lakh demanded for additional clearances