Jaitley’s misplaced anger on CBI over suspects
The assault by the centre on CBI has continued unabated. By dismissing Alok Verma from the post of Chief, the government had pointed out the limits to the premier investigating agency that cannot be crossed. For the government, it pretended as if it was an existential crisis to remove Verma from the post. Government wasn’t too happy with CBI being autonomous. If the agency had stepped ahead on Rafale investigation, the whole government would have been in trouble along with Modi. Many would have landed in jail.
After having dismissed the head of CBI, do other members even pose a challenge? Now the central government is eyeing the second line officers in CBI. Recently, CBI conducted a very important raid. It lodged an FIR against ICICI and Videocon Bank loan issue on Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot and others. CBI officer Sudhanshu Dhar Misra is leading the case. He not only discovered this misdoing when he was the SP of Banking and Securities Fraud Cell, but also lodged an FIR against Chanda Kochhar without coming under anybody’s influence. CBI has put together a lot of documents to bolster it claims, since raids cannot be conducted without an FIR. The current culprits are corporates and hence the bankers have exercised maximum caution.
CBI staffers have seen what transpired with Alok Verma. Government has placed officers suitable to its agenda inside the CBI office. Now despite all this, if an FIR has been drawn up, it does mean the case is serious enough. If the witnesses in the case are not strong enough, they will be let off by the courts when the time comes. Soon as CBI prepared an FIR, Jaitley who had travelled abroad for treatment, criticized CBI right from there.
He said CBI was getting too ‘adventurous’ by projecting oneself as a hero. "There is a fundamental difference between investigative adventurism and professional investigation. Investigative adventurism involves casting the net too wide including people with no mens rea or even having a common intention to commit an offence, relying on presumptions and surmises with no legally admissible evidence. Adventurism leads to media leaks, ruins reputations and eventually invites strictures and not convictions. In the process, the targets are ruined because of harassment, loss of reputation and financial costs. It costs people their career," wrote Jaitely who is in the US for his treatment. Soon after his tweet, Sudhanshu Dhar was transferred proving this transfer was made owing to political pressure. This is another proof to show the depths CBI has been plumbing in the recent times.
What message is Jaitley trying to convey to CBI? Finance minister is also responsible if a bank overlooks the lending policy. Jaitley should have welcomed this decision by the CBI, instead of chiding the officers. What does he mean when he uses ‘adventurism’ as a message? Should the CBI not show its professionalism? Should the officers liaison with the cheating banks and maintain their balance? Even if the CBI officers had made a mistake, what was the need for Jaitley to hurriedly send out a tweet even when he was away in the US?
Central Government used the same CBI to attack the opposition party leaders, costing the agency its reputation. Now when CBI does things on its own, it is being termed as adventurism and whatnot. He has revealed himself before the media by openly tweeting like this. He seems to be deeply affected by CBI’s work. What is the need for CBI if it has to seek the permission of the centre before carrying out raids? The main nerve of CBI has already been severed. Now the other organs are also being cut. The situation now is that CBI cannot lodge an independent FIR or conduct raids even if the records suggest so. CBI is now limited to only ‘fix’ the opposition party leaders. Instead of spending lakhs and crores to maintain a defunct agency, it is better to shut shop forever.
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Maharashtra Dy CM Ajit Pawar, four others killed in plane crash
Baramati (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Maharashtra’s Pune district on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old leader’s death has not only left a vacuum in the BJP-led state coalition government, but also cast a shadow on the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed.
His uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar said the plane crash was an accident which shouldn't be politicised.
The "black box" (comprising the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder) from the aircraft, will be analysed after recovery to determine the cause of the accident, an official said.
Ajit Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar's death.
The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance it did not give any read-back' to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
In aviation parlance, a go-around is a standard procedure where a pilot discontinues a landing attempt and initiates a climb to fly another approach. It is used when a landing cannot be completed safely due to factors like poor weather, an unstable approach, or traffic on the runway. It is a proactive safety measure rather than an emergency.
A readback is a crucial safety procedure where a pilot repeats back the essential parts of a message or instruction received from Air Traffic Control (ATC). It acts as a "closed-loop" communication system, ensuring that the controller's instructions were heard and understood correctly by the flight crew.
The 16-year-old chartered aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, crashed while attempting a second landing approach at Baramati airport which is an uncontrolled airfield where traffic information is typically provided by instructors and pilots from local flying training organisations.
V K Singh, owner of VSR Ventures, said the pilot apparently could not see the runway and carried out a "missed approach", a standardised procedure in such cases.
Terrifying eyewitness accounts have emerged from the site of the aircraft crash as residents near the Baramati airport described a scene of chaos as the plane appeared to lose control before erupting into a series of big explosions.
An eyewitness described watching the aircraft circle the airport, noting it appeared 'a bit unstable' before its final approach. According to her, the plane 'hit the ground hard and exploded' upon impact, with the blast being heard in homes throughout the area.
Later, the Civil Aviation Ministry, quoting the person manning the Air Traffic Control at Baramati, issued a statement about the sequence of events indicating that the flight encountered visibility issues during its landing attempt despite reports of calm weather.
The statement said that at 8.18 am, the aircraft first established contact with Baramati air traffic control after being released by the Pune approach at 30 nautical miles (around 55 km) inbound to Baramati.
The crew was advised to descend at their discretion under Visual Meteorological conditions and were also informed that winds were calm and visibility was approximately 3,000 metres.
Upon reaching the final approach for the runway, the crew reported that the runway was not in sight and initiated a go-around to reposition for a second attempt on the runway.
After initially stating the runway was still not visible, the crew reported "runway in sight" just seconds later and the ATC cleared the aircraft to land at 8.43 am.
However, the crew did not provide the mandatory readback of this final clearance and at 8.44 am, exactly one minute after the last communication, ATC personnel observed flames erupting near the threshold of the runway.
Emergency services reached the scene immediately following the explosion and the wreckage was located on the left side of the runway.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is currently analysing why the crew struggled to maintain visual contact with the runway despite the reported 3,000-metre visibility.
According to eyewitnesses, the force of the explosion was so great that parts of the aircraft were hurled through the air, landing near residential structures. "The plane tilted before coming down. We saw the explosion and it was frightening," an eyewitness said.
Another eyewitness reported that the aircraft appeared to be losing control from an altitude of approximately 100 feet above the runway.
"The way the plane was coming down, we felt it was going to crash... As we rushed towards it, we saw flames, followed by four to five consecutive blasts, which prevented us from going anywhere near the aircraft".
Pramod Madurikar, a witness at the scene, said the victims were identified shortly after the crash and were shifted to ambulances. Fire brigade personnel reached the spot shortly.
The aircraft was trying to land amid poor visibility, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu told reporters in Pune.
VSR Ventures’ fleet includes seven Learjet 45 aircraft (including the one involved in the crash), five Embraer 135BJ aircraft, four King Air B200 aircraft and one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, the statement said.
Superintendent of Police, Sandip Singh Gill, said that after the crash, there was a fire. "People onboard were immediately taken to the hospital," he said.
Ajit Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay.
His Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had contested the recent municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP).
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders expressed grief over Pawar's demise.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who reached Baramati and met Ajit Pawar’s family members, described the NCP leader’s tragic death as unbelievable, and said he had lost a good friend.
Maharashtra government declared a three-day state mourning till January 30, during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings.
Ajit Pawar’s last rites will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati.
Modi and Shah are expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at Vidya Pratishthan ground at 11 am, the Nationalist Congress Party said.
