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Minister says there was no manipulation in the Air India crash investigation after a complaint by the pilot's dad

India's civil Aviation Minister denied Tuesday that there had been any "manipulation", in an official investigation of the crash of an Air India Dreamliner, in June. This was after the father the flight's pilot complained about the investigators' actions.

This was the first official response to a complaint that Pushkar Raj Sabharwal had sent to a union of pilots last month, in which he claimed investigators had been to his home and suggested that his son may have cut off the fuel after takeoff.

Sabharwal (91), complained to the Federation of Indian Pilots about "selective releases" of information by the investigators, which led to speculations regarding the actions of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal.

India Today reported that Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said, "There has been no manipulation or dirty business in the investigation."

When asked in an interview if he could give Sabharwal any assurances, he replied, "It's a very clean, very thorough process we follow according to the rules set up. So we will ensure that commitment is kept."

Air India Flight 171 crashed in June just moments after taking off from Ahmedabad, killing 260 passengers.

A preliminary report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau revealed that all of the fuel engine switches on board had been switched to cutoff almost simultaneously just after takeoff.

Sources briefed by U.S. officials on their early assessment of the evidence in July said that the cockpit recordings of the dialogue between the pilots confirmed the belief that Captain Sabharwal cut off the fuel flow to the engines.

Pushkar Raj Saharwal and FIP did no respond immediately to emails seeking comments.

In a letter he sent to the ministry, Sabharwal requested that the government of India open a second investigation into the fatal crash. India's Supreme Court has asked the government for a response to the plea to conduct an independent investigation.

On Tuesday, it was reported that India had requested more information from Boeing following the activation of an emergency power system on a separate Air India Dreamliner 787 on Saturday. (Reporting and editing by Gareth Jones, Abhijith Ganapavaram)

(source: Reuters)