Nearly three years after the then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy died in a helicopter crash, it has finally been concluded that no one is responsible for lapses leading to the crash. The Director General of Civil Aviation arrived at the conclusion on Tuesday by accepting the explanation of AP Aviation Corporation (APAC) deputy quality control manager M. Lakshman Rao, who was then responsible for maintenance of VIP helicopters at Begumept old airport. While the CBI had earlier found him at fault in the crash, but now that DGCA has accepted his explanation, sources in APAC said the CBI recommendations for action against Mr Lakshman Rao would be dropped.
YSR had died on September 2, 2009 when his Bell-430 chopper crashed in Nallamala forest in Kurnool district. K.V. Brahmananda Reddy, the then managing director of APAC, the other person against whom CBI had recommended action, was recently arrested in the illegal investments case against YSR’s son, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. On August 17, 2011, the state Cabinet had opined that the helicopter crash was caused by negligence, and not sabotage, based on separate reports submitted by the CBI, R.K. Tyagi Committee and Captain M.R. Reddy.
According to the reports, the Bell-430 helicopter that flew Dr Rajasekhar Reddy on his ill-fated trip was not kept ready a day before he was scheduled tour to Chittoor, as is the norm. Instead, the mandatory checks were reportedly done just four hours before YSR was to fly, and it was allowed to fly in bad weather. There is no fulltime managing director of APAC since the crash. The Corporation is headed by Special Secretary (Protocol) N.V. Ramana Reddy, who is also in charge of the NRI Cell.