The probe into the December 28 plane crash at Baramati that killed Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar has got a shocking new twist. A new report claims that the Learjet 45 flight's pilot, Sumit Kapoor, had a serious record of alcohol violations.
This comes despite his flight record of about 15,000 hours, allegedly tainted by two instances of alcohol abuse before flights, as per a Times Now Marathi report.
The report claims that despite the rules forbidding pilots from drinking even a sip of alcohol before a flight, he first failed a pre-flight breathalyser test on March 13, 2010—just before a Delhi-Bengaluru flight.
Despite being caught in 2010, the report alleged that Kapoor failed a similar pre-flight alcohol test seven years later, on April 7, 2017—again, just before a Delhi-Guwahati flight.
This time round, he was reportedly punished by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the repeat offence with a three-year suspension.
The report added that it was after this suspension that Kapoor joined VSR Aviation, the private charter firm that operated the Bombardier Learjet 45 that had carried Pawar and four others, none of whom survived.
However, the report does not indicate whether Kapoor had tested positive for alcohol consumption before the Wednesday flight.
This has sparked questions of how VSR Aviation recruited the pilot despite his controversial track record. Notably, he had not even been the original choice to fly the Learjet 45 flight, as he had been filling in for another pilot, who had got stuck in traffic, as per an NDTV report. It added that he was a very "kind" person, who loved flying, citing his friends.
An initial probe into the private charter firm by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has already raised concerns, after several people from its Mahipalpur office complex suddenly went missing just hours after the crash.
Other puzzling issues with the crash include the flight's brief disappearance from the radar just before the crash, as well as the fact that a 'mayday' call had not been issued.