Union Minister Demands Probe Into Chopper Incidents Involving Devendra Fadnavis

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday sought a probe into the two incidents involving Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's chopper, in which he escaped unhurt.

"The chief minister got involved in accidents twice within a span of two months. There should be an in-depth inquiry to ascertain if there was an deliberate attempt made to harm him or if it was a lapse in his security," the Union minister of State for Social Justice said in a statement issued here.

He said Fadnavis getting involved in such accidents twice in such a short span of time means officials are negligent about his security.

An official from the Chief Minister's office had yesterday claimed Fadnavis escaped unhurt in a freak incident in which his helicopter lifted off and tilted over him even as he waited near its door to board it on his way back to Mumbai from Raigad.

Seeing the chopper tilt over the chief minister, his security personnel rushed and pulled him away to safety, the official had claimed.

The official later denied occurrence of any such incident involving his chopper in which he was said to have escaped unhurt.

Earlier, on May 25, Fadnavis had a narrow escape when his chopper got entangled in an overhead wire and crash-landed in Latur district of Maharashtra after the pilot tried to descend due to bad weather soon after the take-off.

An initial probe conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) into the incident had prima-facie found lapses on part of the pilot.