Air India AI171 crash: Supreme Court agrees to hear petition by Captain Sabharwal’s father seeking independent probe

The Supreme Court on Friday (November 7) agreed to hear the plea of ​​the father of the pilot of London-bound Air India flight AI171, which crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12. Pusharraj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, has demanded an independent investigation.

The court has issued notice to the Center and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to respond to Pushkarraj’s petition. The court has fixed the hearing of the case for November 10.

The top court said that no allegations have been made against the pilot in the preliminary report. The court said that if the father is concerned about the Wall Street Journal report then he should go to the US court against the newspaper.

The court told Pushkarraj, “The pilot cannot be held guilty, you should not take the burden on yourself. Even in the preliminary investigation report there is no indictment against the pilot.”

He moved the court demanding an independent investigation into the causes of the accident, including pilot error. The arguments highlighted how the investigation focused on pilot error, while failing to investigate other possible causes.

The petition has demanded an investigation under the supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge.

Earlier, an NGO had moved the court seeking a court-monitored investigation and pointed out how selective leaks point to pilot error.