While the CEO could not be contacted, General Manager Pramesh Parikh admitted the academy was forced to shut down for two months after police arrested several of their key officials and that flying commenced only after the Ministry’s green light in mid-January.

Said Parikh: “Following the detection of the forgery, we have shifted all our enrolment and registration operations to Mumbai. As far as the police cases and inquiry go, let me tell you not a single one of the 25 pilots to whom fictitious certificates were issued ever visited this place. They were never registered with us.”

The existing Carver staff point fingers at Taxali. However, when contacted, Taxali claimed that he was being “made a scapegoat by the top management.” He admitted that it was “some financial dispute between me and the CEO” that started the whole controversy. “It is thanks to the police and the DGCA that the fraudulent nature of the pilot-training operations have been detected,” he said.

Even as the blame game goes on in Baramati, the police in Pune are finalizing their investigations and say they will shortly chargesheet the accused. Nangre Patil, Superintendent of Police, overseeing the case, said several statements of the pilots are yet to be recorded. “Besides the management, the 25 pilots also will be culpable for the fraud if we are able to establish mens rea. We are consulting senior IAF officials and legal experts for the case since what has happened has grave security and criminal implications.”

... contd.