Mud in copter: Cops study case details; yet to decide on charge

After the Anil Dirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) alleged on Friday that the sabotage of Anil Ambani's Bell 412 helicopter was engineered by a business rival with the intention of killing him, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Saturday stated that it was closely studying the complaint and the case details before taking a call on whether a charge of attempted murder should be applied in the case.
On Friday, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch on orders from Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor. A special team of hand-picked officers, which includes policemen with past experience in airport procedures, has been assigned the task of probing the case.
So far, the police have applied Section 440 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), pertaining to mischief committed after preparation made for causing death or hurt, but they are yet to apply Section 307 (attempt to murder) in the case.
“...If necessary, we will also seek the opinion of someone with expertise in aviation,” said a senior Crime Branch official, who did not wish to be named.
“We are probing who all had access to the helicopter at different stages. We are still questioning four employees of the maintenance company Air Works for details, but no concrete leads have emerged yet,” said the officer. The four persons who were detained for questioning have been identified as Bharat Borge, Ramshankar Chauhan, Uday Warekar and Palraj Thevar. While two are technicians, the other two are helpers.
According to an official statement released by Air Works on Saturday, the company has asked its non-technical helpers to stay off-duty while the probe is on.
According to Air Works, the existing security at the hangar has been beefed up and they are working with the ADAG to replace the damaged component and get the helicopter airworthy at the earliest. On Thursday night, while the helicopter was going through a maintenance check at Air Work's hanger in Kalina, a technician noticed that the cap of the fuel tank was open, and then found mud and gravel inside the fuel tank. According to the complaint lodged by ADAG, the mud and gravel could have caused mid-air loss of power in the engines if it had reached the gear-box.
26/04/09 ExpressIndia

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Categories: Airports Apr 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2009, Safety Apr 2009