At flat No. 302, Rajratna Apartments near St Xavier’s School, Indira Bridge, Sardarnagar, a middle-aged woman opens the door after querying the journalist thoroughly.
At flat No. 302, Rajratna Apartments near St Xavier’s School, Indira Bridge, Sardarnagar, a middle-aged woman opens the door after querying the journalist thoroughly. She lets him in and quickly shuts the door. She settles down in a swing and faces a volley of questions calmly.
After several assurances that this reporter desperately wants a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) and needs her husband Eknath Patil’s help, she says, at present, it’s time to keep mum as the police are hunting for her husband. Initially the woman, named Chitra, claims that her husband has nothing to do with the fake pilot scam and everyone is needlessly blaming him. She assures the reporter that Patil will resolve the issue soon as he is a government official.
Patil hails from Jalgaon district of Maharashtra and had settled in Ahmedabad about a decade ago. He is just a class 10 pass. He travelled to Indore in search of a job and there he joined Udaan Flying School as a peon, his brother-in-law Santosh Patil told DNA.
After some years, Eknath came to Ahmedabad and eventually settled here. Friends of his at the city airport say that he has built a considerable fortune in the last couple of years and has purchased the flat where he lives today. The house cost him nearly Rs30 lakh and is very well furnished.
Before the Delhi Crime Branch arrested him on Monday in Ahmedabad as he to ‘aid’ aspiring pilots procure fake licences, he was known to be a down-to-earth and friendly man about town. Before leaving the house, Patil’s wife asked this reporter to stay calm as Patil would soon be out as he had strong political connections. When the reporter told her that there are many students who reportedly want to go public on the issue, she said everyone will land in trouble if they do that.
Delhi police have hinted, on the basis of preliminary investigations, that there may be a significant number of pilots who have procured their licences by using forged documents. There could be many pilots from Gujarat who might have got their licences through Patil too.
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