The civil aviation ministry on Monday told the Rajya Sabha that there was no proposal to transfer the Air India crash probe to the CBI, appearing to dismiss a report by a foreign media outlet suggesting a criminal review of the accident.
In response to a question by parliamentarian Jebi Mather Hisham on whether the government would initiate steps to conduct a CBI inquiry on the events that led to the crash, minister of state for civil aviation minister Murlidhar Mohol said in a written reply: "No such proposal is under consideration."
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's (AAIB) preliminary report leaves room for speculation, including how the fuel control switches were cut off, causing the engine to shut down midair and leading to a drop in the plane's altitude. Even the flight data recording showed that the two pilots were confused. The report, however, did not cite any findings on whether it was a mechanical failure or "intentionally" done by pilots.
Citing people familiar with the investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported that the black box recording captured the emotional state of the two pilots during the incident and said that the report suggested that the senior pilot turned off the switch while his deputy appeared panicked. WSJ also reported that US officials believe that criminal authorities should review the matter.
In his address to Parliament, Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu criticised the western media for pushing their narratives.
"We want to stand by the truth and not what is happening with the pilots, Boeing, Air India or any other stakeholder,” Naidu said. “We want to find out what exactly happened and that is only going to be coming out once the final report (of the AAIB) is placed. We have to respect the process of investigation and once that process has happened, then we can talk about what happened, how it happened and then corrective measures (can be taken).”