Ghatkopar plane crash: Indamer Aviation dismisses charges, asks police to wait till AAIB submits probe report

The aviation firm was carrying out repairs on the Beechcraft King Air, C-90, VT-UPZ that crashed into an under-construction building in Ghatkopar West on June 28, 2018.

On June 28, four passengers including the pilots died after the plane crashed in Ghatkopar. (Express File Photo)

Indamer Aviation, one of the two firms named in an FIR for culpability in the deaths of five people when a plane crashed in Ghatkopar last year, has dismissed the allegations raised by the deceased crew members’ families. The firm has called on the police asking them to wait until the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation finishes its ongoing probe into the mishap and submits its report.

“The FIR is pointless, as the cause of the crash is not yet known. That will only be concluded once the bureau completes its report and submits it. Suppose the investigation concludes that bad weather led to the crash, what will the police do then? I do not know what this FIR will achieve as one investigation is already going on,” said Indamer Aviation CEO Rajiv Gupta.

His firm was carrying out repairs on the Beechcraft King Air, C-90, VT-UPZ that crashed into an under-construction building in Ghatkopar West on June 28, 2018. All four crew members on board — Captain Pradip Rajput, First Officer Marya Zuberi, engineer Surbhi Gupta and junior technician Manish Pandey — and a pedestrian on the ground, were killed.

While the fathers of Gupta and Pandey wrote complaints to the police in December, Zuberi’s husband, Prabhat Kathuria, approached the Ghatkopar police station with his own complaint on Wednesday, alleging that Indamer Aviation and the aircraft’s owner, U Y Aviation, had forced the crew into carrying out a test flight. He also alleged that the aircraft was not ready to fly and that the firms sent the crew out to fly despite bad weather that day. The police booked officials from both firms on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

However, Gupta rejected those charges, claiming that the aircraft was fit to fly. “There was no issue with airworthiness. The crew themselves cleared it. If it wasn’t airworthy, why would they risk their lives by flying in it?” he asked.

Gupta added: “The plane flew for 52 minutes and the pilot did not issue any distress signal before it crashed. The wings and tail were intact and there was no issue with the engine. We are also waiting to know what the bureau’s report reveals.”

He dismissed the allegations raised by the families of the deceased crew members. “We have submitted all our paperwork to the investigators and are confident that we have done nothing wrong,” he claimed.

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When contacted, Anil Chauhan of U Y Aviation declined to comment.

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