Two more arrested in fake pilot licence scam

Hiren Nagar (27), a pilot, and a tout Eknath Patil (46) were arrested from Ahmedabad by a team of Delhi Police`s Crime Branch yesterday following the arrest of Abhinav Kaushik on last Friday from Gurgaon.

Kaushik had allegedly obtained the licence by producing forged marksheets to DGCA. The arrests came following investigations into a complaint filed by DGCA.

"Nagar was also found to have obtained a licence using forged marksheets," Ashok Chand, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), said.

With this, five pilots have been arrested by Delhi Police while two others have been apprehended by Rajasthan Police in Jaipur in connection with the racket. A senior DGCA official and three touts had been arrested in this case earlier.

The arrests came following investigations into a complaint filed by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that he forged marksheets to obtain a licence.

The pilots had allegedly procured Airlines Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) using fake documents. "One has to clear three subjects -- Aviation Meteorology, Radio Aids and Instruments and Air Navigation -- to get ATPL, mandatory for becoming a Commander of a plane. However, these pilots failed in one or the other paper," Chand said.

During investigations, he said, it came to light that Kaushik had come in contact with Nagar as both of them had undergone flying school training in a Flying School based in Madhya Pradesh.

In 2009, Kaushik again came in contact with Nagar who told him he could arrange fake mark-sheet and CPL Licence on payment of Rs 7.5 lakh.

Nagar allegedly took Rs 1.5 lakh and told him that Patil will contact him and he should give him Rs six lakh and all the documents pertaining to the obtaining of CPL.

Accordingly, Chand said, Patil allegedly prepared the forged mark-sheets and submitted them along with all relevant documents to DGCA. Kaushik was issued a licence in 2009.

Nagar had also obtained licence on the basis of forged documents. It was Patil who allegedly told him that he could arrange the licence for him as he had not cleared the papers mandatory for procuring licence.

"Patil was employed as a peon in a Flying Club at Indore. Later he joined Flying Institute at Indore as a Flight Supervisor. Thereafter, he joined a Flying School in Gujarat as Flight Supervisor. In 2007, he left the job and started liaison work," Chand said.

The Delhi Police on March 26 had claimed to have busted the gang involved in helping pilots obtain licences using forged documents with the arrest of a senior official of DGCA and three others, including a pilot.

Pradeep Kumar (48), presently an Assistant Director with the DGCA, Pradeep Tyagi (35), a pilot who helped others procure fake marksheets, and his two associates Pankaj Jain (23) and Lalit Jain (34) were arrested from Delhi and Chennai last week. Two pilots were arrested early last month.

"Tyagi is the main person behind the racket. Asatkar of Mumbai is a conduit of the gang. The pilots have paid Rs 12 lakh each for the forged marksheets to get licences. Rs 25,000 was given to Kumar by Tyagi for expediting their files," the official said.

In the wake of reports of pilots using forged marksheets, licences of 3,000 to 4,000 pilots are being scrutinised by the DGCA.