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Pilots’ body FIP has served a legal notice to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) regarding the summoning of a nephew of Sumeet Sabharwal, one of the pilots who died in an Air India plane crash at Ahmedabad in June last year.
In connection with its probe into the crash, the AAIB has summoned Captain Varun Anand, nephew of the late Sabharwal and a pilot of narrow-body aircraft with Air India. Anand is also a member of the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP).
Sabharwal was one of the pilots who operated the ill-fated Boeing 787-8 plane that crashed into a medical hostel complex on June 12, 2025, soon after take-off from Ahmedabad for London Gatwick. As many as 260 people, including 241 on board the plane, were killed in the AI171 crash.
“Captain Varun Anand is neither a factual witness nor a technical witness nor an expert witness in relation to the said accident. The sole basis for calling Captain Varun Anand appears to be his familial relationship with the deceased Pilot-in-Command, which is impermissible in law and renders the summoning arbitrary and unsustainable,” FIP said in the legal notice, dated January 11, to AAIB, sent through its Counsel APJ SLG Law Offices.
In a statement on Thursday (January 15, 2026), AAIB said that, as per Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules 2025, the investigator has the power to call and examine any witness relevant to the investigation.
AAIB also said that under the rules, the investigator can require such a witness to furnish or produce information or evidence or to answer or return to any inquiries he thinks fit to make.
In the legal notice, FIP said the intimation does not disclose the statutory provision, purpose or relevance under which Mr. Anand has been sought to be summoned, nor does it specify the capacity in which his presence is required.
“Mr Varun Anand is a commercial pilot by profession and has no association whatsoever with the aircraft, the flight in question, its planning, dispatch, operation, maintenance, certification, airworthiness clearance or crew composition,” the legal notice said.
FIP also said that Mr. Anand was not present at the site of the accident and does not possess any factual, technical or operational knowledge relating to the circumstances of the accident.
“The summoning of the nephew of the deceased pilot and his relatives, irrespective of their lack of nexus with the incident, reinforces the apprehension that such actions are not rooted in any lawful investigative necessity,” it noted.
Published – January 16, 2026 08:26 am IST
