NEW DELHI: The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is probing the Ahmedabad Dreamliner crash of June 12 last year that killed 260 people, has summoned the nephew of late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal to appear before it on January 15, according to the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP). Strongly objecting to the move, the pilots’ body has termed it “an act of harassment” and a violation of aircraft investigation rules, and has sent a legal notice to the AAIB.
The nephew, Captain Varun Anand, is a serving Air India pilot and a member of the FIP.
Captain C.S. Randhawa, president of the FIP, told this newspaper, “This is just harassment of the family. Captain Anand received a phone call on January 11 asking him to appear in front of the AAIB inquiry team on January 19. The summons was later preponed to January 15.”
TNIE has accessed the legal notice sent by the FIP through its law firm APJ-SLG to the Director General and Director of the AAIB on January 11. The notice states that Captain Anand was informed by Air India about the summons, but the basis for calling him was not specified. It also says that he had expressed willingness to appear through video conference on a suitable date.
The notice points out that Captain Anand has no connection with the aircraft involved in the crash, was not present at the site, and does not possess any factual or technical knowledge related to the accident. “The summoning of the nephew of the deceased pilot and his relatives, irrespective of their lack of nexus with the incident, reinforces the apprehension that such actions are not rooted in any lawful investigative necessity,” it said.
“The summoning of Captain Varun Anand as also of other family members is wholly without jurisdiction and contrary to the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules as well as that of International Civil Aviation Organisation, which strictly confine accident investigations to technical, safety-oriented, fact finding and expressly prohibit attribution of blame or liability,” the notice stated.
It added that summoning him solely because of his familial relationship with the deceased appeared to be the only reason for the move. “This gives rise to a serious apprehension that the investigation is proceeding on a preconceived narrative seeking to portray or attribute responsibility to the deceased flight crew rather than objectively examine systemic, mechanical or operational charges,” it said.
The notice further said that since Captain Anand was not a witness, summoning him without adequate notice “is wholly unwarranted and amounts to harassment and distress in the aftermath of a tragic loss and exposes our client to professional and reputational prejudice.”
Officials of the AAIB declined to comment when contacted by this newspaper. The notice also mentioned that the father of the late captain, Puskar Raj Sabharwal, had approached the Supreme Court by filing a writ petition challenging the fairness and independence of the inquiry.
The AAIB had submitted its preliminary report on the crash on July 12, 2025, which triggered controversy as it attributed the accident to human error. The final report is expected to take considerably more time. “The AAIB is presently working on ruling out many other causes, one by one. This takes considerable time,” a government official said.