Indian plane not involved in Afghanistan crash; did refuelling at Gaya airport: Govt
New Delhi, Jan 21: A more than 40-year-old small aircraft carrying six people that crashed in a rural Afghanistan province was not an Indian aircraft and only did refuelling at the Gaya airport on Saturday en route from a Thailand airport to Moscow, officials said on Sunday.
The Morocco-registered Dassault Falcon (DF-10) plane, operating as an air ambulance, was flying from Utapao airport in Thailand to Moscow.
Amid reports that it was an Indian plane that was involved in the crash, the civil aviation ministry on Sunday said the aircraft did not belong to any Indian carrier.
"The unfortunate plane crash that has just occurred in Afghanistan is neither an Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non-Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft. It is a Moroccan-registered small aircraft. More details are awaited," the ministry said in a post on X at 1.07 pm.
An official told PTI that the plane departed the Gaya airport after refuelling at 4.02 pm on Saturday. There were six passengers onboard, including a female patient, the official added.
A source in the know said the plane had started from Utapao airport in Thailand.
"As per available information, the crashed aircraft is a DF-10 (Dassault Falcon) small aircraft registered in Morocco. It is not an aircraft of Indian carriers.
"The aircraft was an air ambulance and was flying from Thailand to Moscow and did refuelling at Gaya airport," the ministry said in a statement.
The crash happened on Saturday in a mountainous area near Zebak district in Badakhshan province, news agency AP said in a report quoting regional spokesman Zabihullah Amiri.
Zebak is some 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, a rural, mountainous area, home to only several thousand people, it added.
Citing Russian civil aviation authorities, the report said the plane went missing with four crew members and two passengers, and it "stopped communicating and disappeared from radar screens".
Quoting Abdul Wahid Rayan, a spokesman for the Taliban's Information and Culture Ministry, the report said there was an engine problem with the plane.
The report quoting Russian officials said the plane involved in the crash had been built in 1978 and belonged to Athletic Group LLC and a private individual.
The plane had been operating as a charter ambulance flight on a route from Gaya to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, onward to Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow, it said.
The unfortunate plane crash that has just occurred in Afghanistan is neither an Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft. It is a Moroccan registered small aircraft. More details are awaited.
— MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) January 21, 2024
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CM Siddaramaiah alleges ‘criminal conspiracy’ in Sringeri recount, vows legal action
Bengaluru (PTI): Alleging a “criminal conspiracy” by BJP candidate D N Jeevaraj in the Sringeri Assembly poll recounting, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said the outcome was manipulated after valid postal ballot votes in favour of Congress leader T D Raje Gowda were tampered with during the recounting process.
Following a Karnataka High Court order on an election petition filed by Jeevaraj, challenging Raje Gowda’s election, the reverification and recounting were conducted on Saturday.
After the reverification and recount of postal ballots for the Sringeri Assembly constituency, votes polled in favour of Raje Gowda were reduced by 255, the returning officer said.
A report on the matter has been submitted to the Election Commission of India for further action, the officer added.
Congress leader Raje Gowda had won the 2023 Assembly polls from Sringeri by 201 votes, defeating his nearest rival Jeevaraj.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said the High Court had directed the recounting of postal ballots and that irregularities were noticed during the exercise conducted on May 2.
“This is a clear case of criminal conspiracy,” Siddaramaiah said, alleging that valid votes cast in favour of Raje Gowda were altered after being accepted by counting agents of all parties, including Congress, BJP, and JD(S).
He claimed that during the recounting of postal ballots, 255 votes were initially accepted as valid by all agents but were later tampered with by subordinate officials.
“There is a second mark on the votes polled in favour of Raje Gowda. They had accepted these as valid votes. Subsequently, another mark was made by officials. This is a clear case of criminal conspiracy,” he said.
When asked who was behind the alleged conspiracy, the CM replied, “It was hatched by Jeevaraj and others. It is planned.”
Siddaramaiah further alleged that the returning officer acted improperly by declaring the result despite the presence of an Election Commission observer during the recounting.
“Immediately after the counting, the returning officer announced the result. He should not have done so; this is against the law,” he said.
He pointed out that Raje Gowda had originally won by 201 votes, but after the recounting, the BJP candidate was declared the winner by 52 votes.
“The BJP has committed a criminal act of conspiracy. This is not vote chori but vote dacoity,” he alleged.
The CM said a police complaint had already been filed by Raje Gowda’s election agent, Sudhir Kumar, and emphasised the need for electoral integrity.
“We want transparency and free and fair elections. That is what our Constitution mandates,” he added.
Stating that the government would pursue legal remedies, Siddaramaiah said, “We are preparing an appeal challenging the returning officer’s announcement in a court of law.”
Responding to a separate query on elections in other states, the CM said there appeared to be an anti-incumbency factor in West Bengal, while results in Tamil Nadu were “surprising,” adding that Vijay’s party was emerging as the largest there.
Following the victory of party candidates in Bagalkote and Davanagere South, Siddaramaiah expressed confidence about future electoral prospects in Karnataka.
“Even in 2028, we will win the Assembly elections. We will come back,” the CM said.
Siddaramaiah added that he would order a forensic examination into the alleged tampering of postal ballots.
