India’s top court says Air India crash report does not insinuate anything against pilot
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The Indian government said the investigation into the Air India flight that crashed in June is “very clean” and “very thorough”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW DELHI - India’s top court said on Nov 7 that a preliminary report on an Air India crash that killed 260 people in June does not insinuate anything against the captain, but it will hear a plea from the pilot’s father on Nov 10 for an independent probe.
The plea by 91-year-old Pushkar Raj Sabharwal for an investigation by a panel of aviation experts, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, came weeks after he criticised the government investigation.
He said two officials from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau who visited him had implied that his son, pilot 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”.
India’s air accidents investigation body published an interim report earlier in 2025 saying the plane’s fuel engine switches had almost simultaneously flipped from run to cut-off just after take-off. REUTERS
