- By Soumyaroop Mukherjee
- Thu, 16 Oct 2025 03:57 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Air India Crash: Days after criticising the government’s investigation into the Air India crash, the father of pilot Sumeet Sabharwal, who was the pilot-in-command in the ill-fated plane,
has now approached the Supreme Court seeking a "fair, transparent, and technically sound" probe, monitored by a retired top court judge. His plea demanded that the probe should focus on other causes, other than pilots’ actions, that led to the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade, which led to the death of 260 people.
A 267-page writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court on October 16 against the Union of India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Director General of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) by Pushkar Raj Sabharwal.
The plea came a week after Pushkar Raj Sabharwal criticised the probe into the crash. According to a report by Reuters, Sabharwal had claimed that two officials from AAIB who visited him had implied that his son, Sumeet Sabharwal, cut the fuel to the plane's engine after take-off. However, the government has denied his allegations and has reiterated that the probe into the crash is "very clean and thorough."
The plea stated that the probe team appeared to "predominantly focus on the deceased pilots while failing to examine or eliminate other more plausible technical and procedural causes. The plea further sought that the ongoing investigation be closed and handed to a new panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge that includes aviation experts.
“An incomplete and prejudiced inquiry, without identification of the exact cause of the accident, endangers the lives of future passengers and undermines aviation safety at large, causing a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the plea stated.
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The plea also questioned the investigating team and stated, "The team is dominated by officers from DGCA, the State aviation authorities whose procedures, oversight, and possible lapses are directly implicated in the investigation. Moreover, the officers are placed under the control of the DG, AAIB, thereby creating a situation where the very entities responsible for regulating and overseeing civil aviation are effectively investigating themselves."
The plea filed by Sumeet Sabharwal’s father also has the support of the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP). The Supreme Court said that it will hear the petition after Diwali.
What Does The Plea Request?
The plea seeks a Judicially Monitored Committee or Court of Inquiry, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court. Independent aviation and technical experts should be part of the committee to conduct a fair and transparent probe.
The plea further requests that all the previous investigations, including the preliminary report released on 12/7/2025, should be closed and all the relevant materials, data and records be transferred to the Judicially Monitored Committee or Court of Inquiry.
What Did The Preliminary Report State?
According to the preliminary report published by AAIB, the fuel supply to both engines of the aircraft was cut off within a gap of one second. This caused confusion between the pilots inside the cockpit soon after takeoff. This has been called the major cause of the crash.
“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," the report stated. However, when the AAIB released the report, it clarified that it was very ‘early’ to reach a ‘conclusion’.