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India’s Civil Aviation Minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, has denied allegations of manipulation in the investigation of Air India Flight 171. This response comes after Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, father of the flight’s captain, alleged that authorities selectively released information from the probe into the crash, which resulted in 241 fatalities out of 242 people on board.
Pushkar Raj Sabharwal wrote to the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), expressing concerns that investigators had only shared selective details. He claimed this led to speculation about his late son Captain Sumeet Sabharwal’s conduct and said officials from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) visited him in August 2025 and suggested his son may have deliberately cut fuel to the engines after takeoff.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu stated that the investigation into the June 12, 2025 Air India Boeing 787-8 crash is being conducted transparently. He denied any wrongdoing in a recent interview: “There is no manipulation or there is no dirty business happening in the investigation. It is a very clean and very thorough process that we are following according to the rules that have been set up, so we are going to ensure that commitment is maintained.”
