Flight landed with 1-2 mins of holding fuel:Delhi police officer; IndiGo says plane had enough fuel
New Delhi (PTI): An IndiGo flight from Ayodhya to the national capital was diverted due to bad weather to Chandigarh where it landed with just 1 or 2 minutes of fuel left on Saturday, a Delhi police officer has said even as the airline on Monday asserted that the aircraft had sufficient fuel.
In a post on X, Satish Kumar, who is DCP Crime with the Delhi Police, said he had a harrowing experience with IndiGo flight 6E 2702 from Ayodhya to Delhi.
He said the flight's scheduled departure time was 3:25 pm and scheduled arrival time was 4:30 pm but at around 4:15 pm, the pilot announced that there was bad weather at the Delhi airport and that the plane had 45 minutes of holding fuel.
"The pilot attempted landing twice, couldn't due to bad weather and still wasted lot of time deciding the next course of action.
"At 5:30 p.m. (after a lapse of 75 minutes since the Holding fuel announcement) the pilot announced that he'll finally attempt landing at Chandigarh... finally the plane managed to land at 6:10 p.m. at Chandigarh Airport after a lapse of 115 minutes since the 45 minutes holding fuel announcement," Kumar said in the post on Sunday evening.
Kumar also said that he got to know after landing from the crew that there was only 1 or 2 minutes of fuel left.
In the post tagging regulator DGCA, the civil aviation ministry, Delhi airport and IndiGo, he also said that it should be enquired if "all SOPs were followed or was it the narrowest escape?".
IndiGo, in a statement on Monday, said the flight was diverted to Chandigarh due to bad weather in Delhi and that the captain executed a go-around which is in line with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
"This is an absolutely safe maneuver. The aircraft had sufficient fuel at all times to divert to an alternate airport, as per regulations," the airline said and regretted any inconvenience that may have been caused due to factors beyond its control.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
