Delhi HC quashes FIR against ex-Air India pilot Arvind Kathpalia citing insufficient allegations

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has quashed an FIR against former Air India pilot Arvind Kathpalia for alleged violations of aircraft rules, including evading a breath analyzer test and forgery.

Kathpalia had filed a petition seeking the quashing of FIR for alleged offences of destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy, forgery, and using forged documents as genuine under the Indian Penal Code and under the provisions of the Aircraft Act.

He was removed from his position as the director of operations at Air India in November 2018 after failing a pre-flight alcohol test, citing the serious nature of the transgression and his failure to correct it.

The court ruled that the allegations were insufficient to make a case against him.

Justice Saurabh Banerjee stated that Kathpalia, who is now retired, cannot be subjected to "double jeopardy" for the same offense, especially after being cleared in disciplinary proceedings.

The court's order said that continuing the FIR would put Kathpalia through the same ordeal again for the same offense.

Senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing Kathpalia, argued that the chairman of Air India found the allegations of forgery unsubstantiated in February 2020 and closed the disciplinary case against him.

Singh contended that the FIR should be quashed, as the charges against Kathpalia had already been dismissed within Air India.

The prosecutor opposed the petition, alleging that Kathpalia had made a forged entry and had ample opportunities to undergo a breath analyzer test but failed to follow the procedure.

The high court's order stated that once Air India had closed the disciplinary proceedings against Kathpalia due to a lack of merits, there was no valid reason for the criminal prosecution to continue.

The court stressed that when exoneration is based on merits and innocence has been proven, there is no fruitful purpose in continuing criminal proceedings on the same facts.

The high court concluded that the allegations against Kathpalia were insufficient to maintain the FIR, and its subsistence would lead to unwarranted injustice.

According to the police, Kathpalia operated a flight from New Delhi to Bengaluru on January 19, 2017, without undergoing the mandatory pre-flight breath analyzer test and refused to undergo a similar test upon arrival in Bengaluru.

Allegedly, he made a false entry in the Pre-Flight Breath Analyzer Examination Register upon returning to New Delhi.