All Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft would be grounded in India by 4 pm: DGCA official
New Delhi: All Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft would be grounded in India by 4 pm on Wednesday, said a senior official of Indian aviation watchdog DGCA.
The decision came days after a 737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by the Ethiopian Airlines crashed near Addis Ababa killing 157 people, including four Indians.
On Tuesday night, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced its decision to ground the aircraft that are currently being used by airline companies in India.
"We will ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, which are currently in use by Indian airlines, by 4 pm today," the DGCA official told PTI on Wednesday morning.
SpiceJet has around 12 such aircraft in its fleet. Jet Airways has five, which have been grounded already.
In a statement Wednesday, SpiceJet said," SpiceJet has suspended Boeing 737 Max operations following DGCA's decision to ground the aircraft."
"Safety and security of our passengers, crew and operations are of utmost importance to us and we will be working with the regulator and the manufacturer to attain normalcy in our operations.
"We are confident of accommodating the vast majority of our passengers and minimise inconvenience," the airline said.
The Ethiopian Airlines incident on Sunday was the second such crash involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in less than five months.
In October last year, an aircraft operated by Lion Air crashed killing over 180 people in Indonesia.
The European Union and many other countries across the world have already banned the use of the 737 Max 8 aircraft in their respective airspace.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
ED moves SC challenging bail to Hemant Soren in money laundering case
New Delhi, Jul 8: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Jharkhand High Court's order granting bail to JMM leader Hemant Soren in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
The high court had on June 28 granted bail to Soren, who on July 4 took oath as the chief minister of Jharkhand.
Soren, the executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), had resigned as chief minister shortly before his arrest on January 31 by the ED in the case.
Earlier during the hearing in the high court, ED's counsel had argued that if Soren was released on bail, he might commit a similar offence and referred to cases against ED officers in the SC/ST police station.
"Though the conduct of the petitioner has been sought to be highlighted by the Enforcement Directorate on account of the First Information Report instituted by the petitioner against the officials of the ED, but on an overall conspectus of the case, there is no likelihood of the petitioner committing a similar nature of offence," the high court had said.
The single bench order had also mentioned that the consequence of the findings recorded by the court "satisfies the condition as at section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 to the effect that there is reason to believe that the petitioner is not guilty of the offence as alleged".
Soren was summoned multiple times by the ED before being questioned at his residence and subsequently arrested on January 31.
