Ruling out corporate rivalry behind the attempt to sabotage industrialist Anil Ambani's helicopter, the police on Monday claimed to have cracked the sensational case and arrested two employees of the firm that maintained the chopper.
Ruling out corporate rivalry behind the attempt to sabotage industrialist Anil Ambani's helicopter, the police on Monday claimed to have cracked the sensational case and arrested two employees of the firm that maintained the chopper.
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Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Rakesh Maria told a crowded news conference that investigations showed the incident was actually an outcome of a dispute between the workers and the management of the aircraft maintenance firm Air Works.
Maria also ruled out corporate rivalry behind the incident, which was alleged by the Anil Ambani group. "There was no corporate rivalry," he said.
The police official also gave a clean chit to Bharat Borge, the Air Works employee who had found pebbles and mud in the chopper's gear box, and whose body was found on the railway tracks last Tuesday.
"In fact, it was his (Borges's) alertness which helped highlight the case and save Anil Ambani's life," Maria asserted. Ambani was scheduled to fly in the chopper the next morning.
The two Air Works employees, who were arrested just before midnight on Sunday, have been identified as S Palraj Thevar and Uday Warekar, working as technical helpers. They were presented before a metropolitan magistrate and remanded to custody till May 15.
Air Works was contracted to maintain the chopper under a contract with ADAG since 2006. However, following the incident, the contract was cancelled last Wednesday.
Detailing the probe, Maria said the chopper was flown to the Air Works hangar on April 22 evening and was taken up for serving, maintenance and pre-flight preparations the next morning.
"On the morning of April 23, around 10 am, Thevar and Warekar were assigned the job of clearing the helicopter. At the time, taking advantage of the opportunity, Warekar planted seven small pebbles and some earth into the gear box," Maria said.
The crime branch has lodged a fresh case under under the Civil Aviation Act, 1992, which can attract life imprisonment with fine, Maria said.
The stringent section deals with offences pertaining to illegally doing something to an aircraft in service which can damage or disrupt the aircraft on ground or in air, or endanger its safety.
Similar incidents have taken place at Air Works in the past, Maria said.
A brick was hurled at an aircraft parked outside the Air Works hangar on August 27, 2008. Two months later, fire-crackers were exploded inside the hangar in the vicinity of which some aircraft were parked.
Then again, there were loud explosions in the main electrical supply room on January 3. Security personnel discovered two-three cracker bombs which were set to blow off and a can of petrol to set off a fire, Maria said.
There was a similar explosion March 6 followed by a minor fire, and cracker bombs and a can of petrol were found in an aircraft.
"All the cases are being investigated by Santa Cruz Airport police," Maria said.
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