New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) The 91-year-old father of Air India pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who died in the fatal Ahmedabad air crash in June, has approached the Supreme Court seeking an independent judicial inquiry into the tragedy.
The petition, filed by Pushkaraj Sabharwal along with the Federation of Indian Pilots, urges the Court to constitute a judicially monitored committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge with independent aviation experts as members to ensure a fair, transparent, and technically sound investigation into the June 12 crash of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which claimed 260 lives during takeoff from Ahmedabad.
The plea challenges the ongoing probe by the union Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), alleging that the preliminary report submitted on June 15 is defective, biased, and riddled with serious technical and procedural lapses.
According to the petitioners, the report’s conclusion that pilot error caused the crash is “implausible,” overlooking several systemic and technical factors that warrant deeper examination.
They contend that a partial and prejudiced inquiry not only violates Article 21 (Right to Life) but also poses a continuing risk to aviation safety.
The plea points out several deficiencies in the investigation, including unexplained RAT (Ram Air Turbine) deployment before crew input.
The probe also ignored systemic electrical collapse, failed to investigate design-level faults, implausible fuel switch movement and misplaced pilot blame, as also turned a blind eye to similar Boeing 787 incidents worldwide.
The petition alleges that selective disclosure of facts and an attempt to shift blame onto crew members who are no longer alive to defend themselves have obstructed the discovery of the real cause of the crash.
The matter is yet to be listed for hearing.
Notably, the Supreme Court is already examining a similar plea filed by Safety Matters Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, concerning the fairness and adequacy of the ongoing probe into the Ahmedabad air crash.
