The lawsuit represents a major escalation of protests by the father and a pilots’ union against the Indian government’s handling of the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade, which came soon after takeoff in the western city of Ahmedabad.
The plea by the father, Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, for an investigation by a panel of aviation experts headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, comes weeks after he criticised the government investigation.
He said two officials from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) who visited him had implied that his son, Sumeet Sabharwal, cut the fuel to the plane’s engine after take-off.
The government has denied such accusations, calling the investigation “very clean” and “very thorough”.
On October 11, the father told the court the investigation team appeared to “predominantly focus on the deceased pilots, while failing to examine or eliminate other more plausible technical and procedural causes,” said one of the sources who saw his filing.
It also asked for the government investigation to be closed and handed to a new panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge that includes aviation experts, said the two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Reuters–
