Inquiry launched over security lapse: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy ‘pilot questioned’
The incident took place when Jagan was returning from his visit to Papireddypalli to console the family of Lingamayya, a YSRCP activist who was murdered on March 30.
The police in Andhra Pradesh’s Sri Sathya Sai district on Wednesday questioned the co-pilot of a private helicopter, who along with the pilot, flew YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to Papireddypalli village in Ramagiri block on April 8, but did not carry him back to Bengaluru, raising security concerns, a police official said.
CK Palli inspector of police C Sridhar told reporters that he, along with Dharmavaram deputy superintendent of police Hemanth Kumar questioned Shreyas Jain, co-pilot of the helicopter belonging to Chipsan Aviation, Bengaluru, for nearly four hours.
“We issued summons to Jain as well as pilot Anil Kumar for questioning why they had left the village without carrying Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was forced to return to Bengaluru by road on April 8,” the inspector said.
He said the co-pilot had answered all the questions posed by the investigating officer before turning to Bengaluru. “Pilot Anil Kumar did not attend the inquiry as he is currently on leave, and that fresh notices will be issued to him,” he said.
Jagan had visited Papireddypalli to console the family of Lingamayya, a YSRCP activist who was murdered on March 30. The YSRCP hired a private helicopter belonging to a private aviation company to Chipsan Aviation to bring him from Bengaluru to the village and fly him back. The party also arranged a helipad at the village.
However, when Jagan landed at the village, hundreds of YSRCP activists broke through barricades to go near the helipad and greet him. This sudden surge of the party workers resulted in a chaos at the helipad and some people allegedly came into contact with the chopper, damaging the front glass panel.
Citing safety concerns, the pilot and crew reportedly informed party leaders that they could not safely fly Jagan back. Surprisingly, shortly after the incident, the same damaged helicopter was flown to Bengaluru by the pilot and co-pilot.
The development kicked up a political row, with the YSRCP leaders blaming the failure on the Chandrababu Naidu government in providing adequate security to Jagan. They claimed that due to safety concerns, their leader had to continue the journey by road instead of by helicopter.
Senior YSRCP leader and former minister Botsa Satyanarayana lodged a complaint with Union home minister Amit Shah on April 10 stating that the state government had deliberately undermined Jagan’s Z+ category security.
“Though the district police claimed to have deployed 1,100 police personnel, visuals showed minimal presence, reflecting the government’s negligence and intent. We believe it is a conspiracy on the part of the government to deny proper security to Jagan,” he alleged and sought intervention of the Centre to ensure Jagan’s safety.
Following the controversy, the state government ordered a thorough inquiry into the allegations of breach of security and return of the helicopter without carrying the VIP. As part of that, the police issued notices to the maintenance company located in Jakkur, Karnataka, asking the pilot and co-pilot to appear in person at the CK Palli police station on Wednesday.
Another police official familiar with the matter said the police asked the co-pilot as to who had taken the decision to fly back to the base without the VIP and who had asked them to do so. They also enquired as to what extent the helicopter was damaged and whether it was risky to fly Jagan back to Bengaluru.
