New Delhi: Two pilots arrested in the
Capital for procuring flying licence by allegedly forging
marksheets are believed to have paid touts Rs 10-12 lakh each,
Police said on Monday.
Police arrested Parminder Kaur Gulati (38) of Indigo
and Jitender Kishen Verma (46) of Air India in the last one
week and are hot on the trail of two more pilots who are
absconding in the wake of the fake pilot scare. Verma is with
the state-owned airline for 22 years.
As police widened its probe to nail the touts, Deputy
Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand said they were
investigating the case and were looking for Meenakshi Sehgal
of Indigo and Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR -- against whom
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has lodged
complaints.
A senior police official said they were trying to
identify the touts from whom the pilots allegedly procured the
fake marksheets. "They are believed have paid something around
Rs 10-12 lakh. We are investigating this," the official, who
did not want to be named, said.
Chand said, "the latest to be arrested was Verma. He
has been a co-pilot with Air India since 1989. He tried to get
a pilot licence but failed in mandatory tests continuously. He
then allegedly forged marksheets to procure licence."
He said Verma was arrested on March 12, four days
after Gulati was apprehended from the capital. Talwar and
Sehgal are absconding.
According to Chand, both Gulati and Verma procured
Airlines Transport Pilot Licence using fake documents. "One
has to clear three subjects -- Aviation Meteorlogy, Radio Aids
& Instruments and Air Navigation -- to get ATPL, mandatory for
becoming a Commander of a plane," he said.
However in Verma`s case, he said, he failed in all
three papers continuously from 2006 though he cleared Aviation
Meteorology paper in 2009.
In December 2009, he went to the US and obtained an
ATPL from Florida. To convert this license issued from the US
to Indian license, he had to again appear in one Air
Navigation composite.
"In June, 2010 he appeared in the paper but did not
clear it. Then in September, 2010, he submitted a forged
result card of April 2010 of passing Air Navigation Composite
for conversion of his license. On this, he obtained the Indian
License on the basis of forged result card," Chand said.
Verma was born and brought up in Mumbai and did his
BCom from Mumbai University in 1986. The next year he obtained
a Commercial Pilot License (CPL) from Florida in US and in
1989, he joined as a trainee pilot in Air India. After
completion of training he became a Co-Pilot in Air India.
In the wake of the fake pilot scare, licenses of 3,000
to 4,000 pilots are being scrutinised by the DGCA, according
to Civil Aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi.
Delhi Police`s Crime Branch had on March eight
arrested Gulati for allegedly obtained the mandatory Airlines
Transport Pilot License (ALTP) using forged documents.
PTI
