AI pilot held for forging documents

An Air India pilot was arrested on Sunday for allegedly using forged marksheets to procure a commercial flying licence from the country's aviation regulator, the police said.

An Air India pilot was arrested on Sunday for allegedly using forged marksheets to procure a commercial flying licence from the country's aviation regulator, the police said.

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The arrest — the second of its kind in last four days —came after the scrutiny of as many as 3000 to 4000 pilots' licences by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

"The accused has been identified as Captain JK Verma, a resident of north Delhi. He was apprehended late on Saturday following investigations into a complaint filed by DGCA," said a senior police officer from the crime branch of the Delhi Police.

The DGCA complaint expresses the regulator’s apprehension about the veracity of documents provided by several pilots, the police said,.

"Following investigations into the complaint filed by the DGCA, Verma was found to have forged mark sheets of the Pilot License Examination (PLE), which is essential for obtaining a commercial flying licence," the officer said.

The police said they had zeroed-in on two more pilots, identified as Meenakshi Sehgal with Indigo Airlines and Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR.

Sehgal too is a resident of north Delhi while Talwar stays in Jaipur. Both of them are absconding at the moment.