With more and more questions and suspicions being raised about the reasons for the helicopter crash killing the Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and four others, Andhra Pradesh government has decided to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI). Announcing the decision, State Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy said that the Chief Minister K. Rosaiah took the decision after a high level review meeting. “Mr. Rosaiah spoke to the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Monday morning and requested him to order a CBI probe in to the incident. The home minister readily agreed and conveyed the decision to the chief minister”, she said. The decision came at a time when the Crime Investigations Department of the State police along with the explosives and forensic experts was already on the job of the probe and was looking in to the incidents from all the possible angles including sabotage. The state home minister said that for the time being CID investigations will also continue. Sabita said that the government had also decided to appoint a two member expert committee to probe the crash. The committee comprises of M.R. Reddy, a retired IPS officer and expert on VIP security and HS Khosla, former Director General of Civil Aviation. The committee has been asked to submit its report in two months. “Since, many doubts are being raised over the helicopter tragedy, we decided to conduct a thorough inquiry from all angles so that the truth comes out,” Sabita Reddy said. The CID team headed by its additional director general Sivanarayan is also going to question the staff of the air traffic control in Hyderabad and Chennai, who were responsible to keep a watch on the helicopter as it was flying from Hyderabad to Chittoor district in turbulent weather.
