Ambani chopper case: Charges against two accused to stay

MUMBAI: Police said the charges against the two arrested accused in Anil Ambani's chopper sabotage case will not be altered in the wake of DGCA findings today that pebbles found in the gearbox could have only caused negligible damage even if the helicopter had taken off.

"The two accused had an intention to cause damage to the chopper. The accused would face the same charges slapped against them after their arrest. No additional charges would be added," Joint Police Commissioner(Crime) Rakesh Maria said.

"The DGCA report says that a detector in the cockpit would have signalled about any such fault to the pilot soon after the chopper engine started.... (hence) pebbles could have negligible damage," Maria said.

"A light would have blinked signalling a fault in the chopper before it took off," he added.

The Crime Branch, probing Anil Ambani's chopper sabotage case, had sought the opinion of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to know the size of damage the pebbles could have caused if the chopper would have taken off.

Two employees of aircraft maintenance firm Air Works, Uday Warikar and Palraj Thevar, were arrested on May 3 for allegedly planting pebbles in the chopper's gearbox cap.

Warikar allegedly planted seven pebbles in gearbox cap while Thevar aided him.