New Delhi, Apr 6: Two more staffers of airline regulator DGCA have landed in police net for allegedly helping people obtain pilot licences using forged documents, taking the total number of arrests in such cases to 13.
Mahan Jyoti Bhattacharya (37) and Mohammed K Ansari (42) were apprehended in the capital yesterday following questioning of two pilots Abhishek Kaushik and Hiren Nagar who claimed that these DGCA staffers have taken lakhs of rupees from them for providing licences using forged mark sheets.
With this, five pilots and three DGCA staffers have been arrested by Delhi Police while two others have been apprehended by Rajasthan Police in Jaipur in connection with the racket. Three touts had also been arrested by Delhi Police in these cases.
Kaushik and Nagar had procured Commercial Pilot Licences (CPLs) allegedly using forged mark sheets and the two DGCA staffers allegedly charged them a hefty amount knowing that their documents were forged, Ashok Chand, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), said.
Ansari, who is presently posted in Finance Section of DGCA, was in the Commercial Pilot Licences section between May 2006 and April, 2008. Bhattacharya, presently in Cash and General Section, was also in the same section from June 2008 to December 2009.
"It was during these periods that the CPLs were issued on forged result card to Kaushik and Nagar," Chand said.
With this, police have smashed two rackets involved in procuring pilot licences using forged mark sheets. Earlier on March 26, Delhi Police had claimed to have busted a 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 mark sheets, and his two associates Pankaj Jain (23) and Lalit Jain (34) were arrested from Delhi and Chennai then. Two pilots were arrested earlier in March.
Kaushik had in October 2009 allegedly submitted forged result card of Pilot Licence Examination of April 2007 and obtained CPL in November 2009. It was Nagar and Patil who allegedly helped Kaushik obtain a licence using forged mark sheets.
In order to obtain CPL, one has to clear the examination of DGCA which he could not clear despite several attempts. In 2009, he came in contact with Nagar and was informed by him that he could arrange fake mark sheet and CPL Licence on payment of Rs 7.5 lakh.
"Nagar was also found to have obtained a licence using forged mark sheets," Chand said.
During interrogation, Chand said, it came to light that Patil had given Rs 4.50 lakh to Ansari for ensuring that there was "no hitch in the movement of files" for obtaining of CPL for Nagar and Ansari.
Out of the 4.5 lakh, Ansari gave Rs 2.6 lakh to Bhattacharya, who was dealing hand in CPL section during the period. "Ansari and Bhattacharya knew that the result cards submitted by Kaushik and Nagar were forged and hence they charged hefty amounts," Chand said.
Ansari is an ITI diploma holder from Bihar and joined DGCA in 1994 as a Draftsman.
Bhattacharya joined DGCA in 1997 as LDC. PTI
