The father of the late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the Pilot-in-Command of the ill-fated Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad in June, has moved to the Supreme Court of India seeking a fair, transparent and technically sound investigation into the crash. This comes after the Air India plane crashed at Ahmedabad Airport, taking the lives of around 260 people.
Captain Sabharwal’s father, while filing a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a fair and technically sound investigation into the matter, requested the apex court to appoint a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge to monitor the probe. While expressing concerns about the impartiality and thoroughness of the ongoing investigation, the father of the late Sumeet Sabharwal filed a writ petition. While filing the petition, the father of the accused argued that the current inquiry lacks the required technical oversight to establish the true causes behind the fatal crash.
The writ petition against the enquiry on the Air India crash has been jointly filed by Pushkaraj Sabharwal and the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) on October 10, seeking the constitution of a “Court Monitored Committee” to probe the AI 171 crash.
As per the writ petition filed by Captain Sabharwal’s father and the Federation of Indian Pilots, all the investigation reports filed by the agencies should be treated as closed. The petition further demanded that all the evidence related to the investigation should be transferred to the judicially monitored committee.
The plea filed at the Supreme Court of India states, “A judicially monitored committee or court of inquiry, headed by a retired judge of this honourable court, with independent aviation and technical experts as its members, should be formed to conduct a fair, transparent, and technically robust investigation into the crash of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.”
While the second petition on the Air India crash investigations states that “all prior investigations conducted by the Respondents into the said accident, including the preliminary report dated 12.07.2025, be treated as closed and all relevant materials, data, and records be transferred to the Judicially Monitored Committee or Court of Inquiry.”
The petition also alleged, “By fostering a narrative of pilot culpability, the AAIB has compromised the independence, objectivity, and integrity of the investigation, creating serious legal and international liability under ICAO Annexe 13.”
The devastating crash that happened at Ahmedabad in June, one of the deadliest in recent Indian aviation history, prompted widespread demands for accountability.
The Dreamliner, operating a domestic flight, went down shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, killing all passengers and crew on board.