Mumbai: Police investigating an alleged attempt to sabotage the helicopter of billionaire businessman Anil Ambani have arrested two men working for the company that maintains the aircraft, an officer said on Monday.
Mysterious death: Bharat Borge, the technician who discovered pebbles in the chopper.
Joint commissioner of police Rakesh Maria told reporters the two were helpers at Air Works India Engineering Pvt. Ltd and had been arrested on Sunday night.
He said a long-running dispute between a workers’ union and the management at the firm was the reason. Engineers working for Air Works had found sand and pebbles in the fuel tank of the Ambani craft, Maria said. An expert committee has been appointed to examine the aircraft, he said.
Uday Manohar Warekar, 32, and Balraj Ganpati Thevar, 38, have been sent to police custody until 15 May, Maria said.
He added that police believe the two had placed the pebbles and sand in the aircraft engine, and if found guilty, they could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Police are also investigating the death of an Air Works technician, Bharat Borge, who discovered the pebbles, ‘PTI’ said.
Borge died after being run over by a train near Mumbai’s Vile Parle suburb on 28 April. Maria said Borge “was not involved at all” in the incident.
“Probably they knew that it (the helicopter) belonged to that (Ambani’s) company and if they tampered with it, it would have caused an impact,” he told a news conference.
“This is probably the fifth incident at the Air Works company,” he added, ruling out suggestions of corporate rivalry against Ambani or his company.
(‘AFP’ contributed to this story.)