Party colleagues allege sabotage behind the helicopter crash that killed the Andhra Pradesh chief minister
Party colleagues allege sabotage behind the helicopter crash that killed the Andhra Pradesh chief minister
Even as a shocked nation mourned Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy many of his party men floated conspiracy theories crying murder.
They claimed that the helicopter crash in the dense forests of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh was actually sabotage and demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter.
"The crash was a conspiracy. It should be inquired by the highest agency in the country.
Terming it an accident would not be proper. Truth must come out," former member of parliament Mohammad Shahid Khan told MiD DAY.
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"He dealt with the Naxals with an iron hand and had made a number of enemies in the process," said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.
Another leader also raised doubts over the circumstances in which the leader died.
"Why did he take that helicopter instead of the one which he uses regularly? Why did he fly when the weather was so bad?" asked another leader.
The incident has also triggered a blame game with those in Delhi accusing the Andhra Pradesh Congress and the state government of handling the rescue operation with laxity.
The death of YSR Reddy came at a time when he was at the peak of his political career. He was instrumental behind the UPA coming to power in both the general elections of 2004 and 2009.
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Dr YSR along with his principal secretary, chief security official and two pilots of Bell 430 helicopter died in an air crash on September 2 in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.
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Their charred bodies were recovered from a hilltop in the thick forests of Nallamala hills.
DIG OUT THE TRUTH
The union government has ordered a probe into the air crash, which killed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr YSR Reddy and four other occupants of the Bell helicopter.
"The government has decided to hold a formal inquiry of the accident. A committee has been appointed headed by RK Tyagi, chairman and managing director, Pawan Hans Helicopters and three other members.
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The panel would submit its report within two months," said a civil aviation ministry spokesperson.
Other members of the committee are Flight Operation Inspector Capt Irshad Ahmad, Senior Air Safety Officer Sanjay Bramhane and Deputy Director, Air Safety, Maneesh Kumar.