Air India Flight Crash: SC to Examine Deceased Pilot’s Father’s Plea for Independent Probe

India’s Supreme Court on Friday said that a preliminary report on the Air India crash that killed 260 people in June does not implicate the aircraft’s captain. The court, however, will hear a plea on November 10 from the pilot’s father, seeking an independent probe into the incident.

The petition was filed by 91-year-old Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, who has requested that the investigation be conducted by a panel of aviation experts led by a retired Supreme Court judge. His plea follows his criticism of the ongoing government investigation.

Sabharwal claimed that two officials from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), who visited him, had implied that his son, pilot Sumeet Sabharwal, may have cut fuel to the plane’s engines shortly after take-off. The government has rejected such allegations, describing the official probe as “very clean” and “very thorough.”

The AAIB, India’s official civil aviation accident investigation body under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is responsible for examining all serious civil aircraft incidents and accidents within India and involving Indian-registered aircraft abroad. Its role is to determine causes and contributing factors, issue safety recommendations to airlines, regulators, and manufacturers, and enhance overall aviation safety, not to assign blame. The bureau publishes preliminary, interim, and final reports to provide factual details, analysis, and recommendations.

Earlier this year, the AAIB’s interim report noted that the aircraft’s engine fuel switches had almost simultaneously moved from “run” to “cutoff” shortly after take-off, though the report did not attribute responsibility to the pilot.

The Supreme Court will now consider Sabharwal’s plea on November 10, which seeks a probe by independent experts headed by a retired judge, highlighting the family’s demand for a transparent investigation.