The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the Deputy Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and a senior executive of a private company in a case $The agency said on Sunday that 2.5,000 bribery cases related to approvals for drone imports.
The CBI’s FIR identifies the special executive as Bharat Mathur, senior vice president at Reliance Industries Ltd and associated with Asteria Aerospace Ltd. According to the FIR seen by HT, Mathur allegedly contacted DGCA official M Devula in March regarding pending orders for drone imports.
In a statement, a Reliance spokesperson said Mathur was acting as a consultant and that the company “was not aware of any transaction involving him of the nature referred to, nor did we approve any such unauthorized transaction.”
The CBI said the two were arrested while exchanging bribes on Sunday. Subsequent searches of Divola’s house and other buildings led to the recovery of the bodies $37k in cash, plus gold, silver and multiple digital devices.
According to the FIR, this has been “settled”. $5 lakh per file will be paid as bribe to process approvals. The agency alleged that Divola sought an undue advantage in exchange for clearing pending applications with the regulator and acted in collusion with private entities.
The FIR also adds that Mathur met Devola on April 17 at the DGCA office, where he was assured that the approvals would be completed on the same day. Devola allegedly asked him to deliver the money at Essex Farms near IIT Delhi flyover on April 18.
Both Devula and Mathur, along with Asteria Aerospace Ltd and other unidentified persons, have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act and related provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Asteria Aerospace Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is the majority shareholder.
Inquiries sent to Asteria Aerospace received no response at the time of printing.
The arrests come at a time when the DGCA is under intense scrutiny following a series of crises in the civil aviation sector, including the crash of an Air India flight in Ahmedabad in June, widespread disruptions to IndiGo flights in December, the crash of a private plane involving Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, and increasing operational pressures linked to the West Asia crisis.
