COIMBATORE: Special team of Nilgiris police questioned two persons who recorded what is believed to be final few moments of the helicopter which crashed in Coonoor on December 8, killing Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others.
Y Joe alias Kutty (52), a wedding photographer from Ramanathapuram, recorded the video on his mobile when he was on a sightseeing trip with his friend H Nazar (52). The two had tried to contact Nilgiris police on the day of the incident but it went in vain. After the video went viral, the two visited the office of the Commissioner of Police in Coimbatore on Friday to share their observations about the incident.
The special team summoned the duo to Nilgiris on Saturday to verify the authenticity of their claim. “We were told to keep the evidence safe and produce it before police whenever required,” Nazar said. Police filed a case regarding the incident under section 174 (unnatural death) of CrPC.
“We are collecting statements from more than 30 people who witnessed the crash and engaged in the rescue operations. Forensic experts collected the material evidence from the site. Once we receive the report, we have to establish the accident scene for which the video footage will help us. So we instructed them to keep their mobile phone and video footage safe and hand over the mobile phone when needed for laboratory tests,” said a police officer.
CB-CID to probe rumours
Chennai: The Cyber Crime Wing of Tamil Nadu CB-CID will probe World Conflicts Monitoring Centre and Pakistan Strategic Forum for spreading false news on Twitter regarding the death of General Bipin Rawat. The World Conflicts Monitoring Centre using the handle ‘@WorldBreakingN9’ had tweeted pictures on December 8 of the helicopter crash saying that a missile had hit the chopper causing it to crash. It also said that this is an act of revenge by the people of Nagaland. A self-claimed aerospace engineer with the Pakistan Strategic Forum with the username ‘AEROSINT Division PSF’ tweeted a picture on Dec 8 of the crash saying the helicopter was shot down by the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army