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Journalism of Courage
Two employees of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation,arrested Wednesday as part of the probe into forged marksheets submitted for pilot licences,have told police there was no system to verify the documents.
An alleged middleman arrested a day earlier had started out as a peon in Indore,but went on to become a flight superviser in an Ahmedabad flying school,police said.
DGCA staffers Mahan Jyoti Bhattacharya (37) and Mohammed K Ansari (42) have admitted to processing commercial pilot licences for 60 people,police said. The role of other DGCA staff is being investigated, said Ashok Chand,DCP (Crime).
So far,13 people,including seven pilots,have been arrested in the investigation. Police are checking almost 8,000 licences issued since 2000.
The two DGCA men allegedly connived with Eknath Patil,the peon-turned-flight superviser,to forge marksheets and process CPLs for Rs 6-7 lakh each,police said.
Marksheets appear to have been forged for obtaining both CPLs and ATPLs (Airline Transport Pilot Licence). Two pilots arrested on Monday,Hiren Nagar and Abhishek Kaushik,got licences on forged documents,it is alleged.
Marksheets were put on the DGCA website,but no one bothered to check them. Officials passed forged marksheets as genuine and licences were granted, said a police officer.
