Bhopal: "Flight authorized by CM" — this was the entry in the journey log book of the aircraft that ferried late Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson out of Bhopal on December 7, 1984. This is what the pilot — captain Sayed Hafiz Ali revealed before justice (retd) S L Kochhar commission probing Anderson's escape from India. Ali was the pilot of the aircraft (VT-EID King Air-200C) which flew Anderson to Delhi on December 7. Captain Grover was co-pilot.
"Orders for flying out the VIP passenger came from the then director of state aviation captain R C Sodhi," captain Ali said, putting an end to the 30-year-old controversy over Anderson's safe passage from Bhopal, hours after his arrival.
"It was only after landing the aircraft at Delhi airport that we came to know that the passenger we ferried from Bhopal was Anderson. For us it was a routine flight," capitan Ali told TOI. He retired in 2004.
The journey log book — which was considered crucial evidence for authorization of flight, is not in India any longer. Sources claim that the state aviation department sold this aircraft to Span Air Pvt Ltd, a company owned by former Union minister Kamal Nath's son in 1998 and the company sold it again to a foreign company. This aircraft was last seen at Delhi airport on July 5, 2006, as per a website that keeps tab on sightings of planes.
"We usually don't interact with passengers. I remember a senior police officer (then superintendent of police Swaraj Puri) coming to drop Anderson at the state hangar and then an unknown person came to receive him at Delhi airport. I went to drop him at the airport, but we didn't talk. He got into the car and went away," capitan Ali recalls.
03/12/14 P Naveen/Times of India
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"Orders for flying out the VIP passenger came from the then director of state aviation captain R C Sodhi," captain Ali said, putting an end to the 30-year-old controversy over Anderson's safe passage from Bhopal, hours after his arrival.
"It was only after landing the aircraft at Delhi airport that we came to know that the passenger we ferried from Bhopal was Anderson. For us it was a routine flight," capitan Ali told TOI. He retired in 2004.
The journey log book — which was considered crucial evidence for authorization of flight, is not in India any longer. Sources claim that the state aviation department sold this aircraft to Span Air Pvt Ltd, a company owned by former Union minister Kamal Nath's son in 1998 and the company sold it again to a foreign company. This aircraft was last seen at Delhi airport on July 5, 2006, as per a website that keeps tab on sightings of planes.
"We usually don't interact with passengers. I remember a senior police officer (then superintendent of police Swaraj Puri) coming to drop Anderson at the state hangar and then an unknown person came to receive him at Delhi airport. I went to drop him at the airport, but we didn't talk. He got into the car and went away," capitan Ali recalls.
03/12/14 P Naveen/Times of India
