NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a plea filed by the family of late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal -- the Pilot-in-Command of the ill-fated Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, claiming over 260 lives -- seeking an independent and judicially monitored probe into the tragedy.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing on behalf of the 91-year-old father of the deceased commander, that the ongoing investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) was “not independent”.
During the hearing, Justice Kant-led, allaying the petitioner’s apprehension that his son was being unfairly blamed for the accident, remarked: “It’s extremely unfortunate, this crash, but you should not carry this burden that your son is being blamed. Nobody can blame him for anything.”