Pilot licence scam: One more held

The arrest came following investigation into a complaint filed by D C Sharma,Director Training and Licensing of DGCAs Civil Aviation Department,that Patel had allegedly forged documents to procure a commercial pilot licence.

During interrogation,the police said,he said he joined Ahmedabad Aviation and Aeronautics Ltd and completed 10 hours of flying. As no Chief Flying Instructor was availabe there,the police said,he left the institute and joined another institute in Jamshedpur from where he completed 170 hours of flying till 2007.

He regularly appeared for pilot licence examinations required for obtaining a Commercial Pilot Licence but could not pass all the papers. In April 2007 session,he appeared in three papers but could clear only one paper, said a senior police officer.

After that he appeared in July 2007 and April 2008 regular session but could not get through the remaining papers. In the meantime,he contacted Eknath Patil,who was earlier arrested in the scam,for help as he was short of 20-30 flying hours, the officer said. Eknath Patil allegedly took Rs 2 lakh from him and prepared a fake marksheet wherein he was shown as clearing all the three papers,the police said.