Reena Chauhan, a former employee at Indamer Aviation Private Limited, has filed a complaint with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) alleging that the firm– which was in charge of maintenance and repairs of the ill-fated chartered aircraft that crash-landed in Ghatkopar in June – has been involved in illegal and unethical practices. The firm is in the business of maintaining aircraft and helicopters.
Chauhan who said she worked with Indamer between September 2011 and June 2016 said in her complaint: "My boss Mr Avinash Bharti used to pressurise engineers to do unauthorised work on helicopters. I refused many times and complained to the CEO, Rajeev Gupta, but no body took any action."
Chauhan's complaint says that she further escalated the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), but the body disclosed her name to her employer and she was forced to resign. "DGCA also cancelled Avinash Bharti licence due to my complaint," her complaint says. "Till June 2016, I used to maintain the helicopter belonging to the government of Maharashtra, which met with an accident on May 2017.
This is the same company that repaired the King Air C-90 which crashed in June 2018, killing five people.
This thing will keep on repeating until they [the firm's management] are punished. In 2016, I got life threats from Mr Avinash Bharti, and I had no choice. I kept quiet, but now their malpractices have claimed five lives."
Meanwhile BS Bhullar, director general, of DGCA said, "DGCA has a procedure to look into any complaint/issue it receives. It is not possible to comment on individual cases."
"I obviously deny all allegations levied by Chauhan," Bharti told DNA, "We did not pressurise engineers to do illegal things; nobody can do that. Regulatory authorities monitor our work, and pressurising does not works. Thirty to 40 engineers work with us and none have complained. Chauhan was a highly-paid employee but she quit voluntarily, citing personal reasons. We have emails from her citing the reasons for resignation."
Chief Executive Officer of Indamer Rajeev Gupta said, "We live in a democracy, and anybody can write anything. We are not into forcing [employees], and nobody signs anything just because we tell them to. There are processes that need to be followed and regulatory bodies that check them."
He added that Chauhan would have to provide proof to back her claims. "She should have gone to the police, if she felt her life was under threat," he countered.
"I had sent Indamer a legal notice after the firm failed to provide a relieving letter," is Chauhan's response.
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