Archives for July 2025

New Delhi: Air India on Wednesday completed the inspection of the locking mechanism of fuel control switches in its Boeing 787 planes and did not find any issues, according to an airline official.

On Monday, aviation watchdog DGCA directed airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes against the backdrop of AAIB’s preliminary report stating that fuel switches were cut off before the Air India plane crash that killed 260 people last month.

“Over the weekend, our Engineering team initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all our Boeing 787 aircraft. The inspections have been completed and no issues were found,” the official said, quoting an internal message sent to Air India pilots.

The official also said that all the Boeing 787-8 aircraft have undergone Throttle Control Module (TCM) replacement as per the Boeing maintenance schedule. FCS is part of this module.

FCS regulate the flow of fuel into the aircraft engines. In its preliminary report on the Boeing 787-8 crash released on Saturday, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the fuel supply to both engines of the plane was cut off within a gap of one second, causing confusion in the cockpit soon after take off.

A 15-page preliminary investigation report into the Air India plane crash revealed fuel-control switches of the two engines moved from the “run” to the “cutoff” position, within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude.

“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off? The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said.

AAIB, which mentioned about FAA’s SAIB in the report, did not suggest any recommended action.

The airline has also asked pilots to remain vigilant and report any defect in the technical log, as per the existing reporting process, the official added.

 An earthquake of magnitude 3.7 struck near Jhajjar in Haryana on Friday evening, sending tremors across parts of Delhi-NCR, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said.

The tremors were recorded at 7:49 pm, with the epicentre located 10 km northeast of Jhajjar and around 51 km west of Delhi, it said.

People reported feeling the tremors in several districts, including Rohtak, Faridabad, Kurukshetra, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Noida.

This was the second earthquake to jolt the region in as many days.

On Thursday morning, a stronger earthquake of magnitude 4.4 struck near Jhajjar, triggering tremors across the capital and adjoining areas.

The back-to-back earthquakes have sparked concern and speculation on social media.

“Another earthquake — 2 earthquakes in 2 days! What’s happening?” a Gurugram resident posted on X.

“Another day, another earthquake. Earthquake jolts Delhi once again — second tremor this week! What’s going on with the tectonic plates? Delhiites are literally shaking…,” wrote another user.

Bhubaneswar: A tribal couple in Odisha’s Rayagada district was allegedly forced to plough a field with a yoke placed on their shoulders as a form of public punishment for marrying against community traditions, officials said on Friday.

The alleged incident took place at Kanjamajodi village within Kalyansinghpur police limits on Wednesday, they added.

A purported video of the incident, which went viral on social media on Friday, shows the young man and woman being paraded like oxen with a yoke strapped on their shoulders, made to plough a field in front of villagers and community elders.

PTI, however, could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

According to villagers, the couple — who reportedly got married in defiance of customary tribal norms — were subjected to a public ‘purification’ ritual.

The young man is alleged to have married his paternal aunt (father’s sister), which is considered a taboo by the community due to their blood relation.

Once the relationship came to light, a kangaroo court of village elders reportedly convened and ordered the punishment, carried out in full public view.

After performing the ‘rituals’, the community leaders allegedly asked the couple to immediately leave the village. Their current whereabouts remain unknown.

Village head Biswanath Kurshika said, “We performed the ‘purification’ rituals and punished them so that they can get rid of the sin they have earned for marrying within the blood relation.”

If the rituals were not conducted, the villagers would have faced crop loss as there would be no rain in the area, he claimed.

Rajendra Kurshika, another villager, said, “The rituals were performed in accordance with our tradition and they (couple) were separated.”

Terming the act as ‘inhuman’, Rayagada sub-collector Ramesh Kumar Jena said he will visit the village on Saturday to inquire about the incident.

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank on Friday said it has imposed a Rs 4.88 lakh penalty on HDFC Bank for contravention of certain norms relating to foreign investment in India while granting a term loan to its client.

The central bank also imposed a penalty of Rs 2.70 lakh on Shriram Finance Limited for non-compliance with certain provisions of the Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025

Regarding the penalty on authorised dealer bank HDFC Bank the RBI said it had issued a show cause notice to the bank, in response to which the bank had submitted a written reply and had also made oral submissions thereon.

A woman allegedly sought help from two men to get her husband’s phone snatched in south Delhi’s Sultanpur area to delete intimate photos with her lover stored on the device, an official said on Friday.

The men allegedly carried out the snatching and had been absconding since the day of the incident on June 19, they said.

One of them, Ankit Gahlot (27), was arrested who said told police that the woman was in a relationship with another man and her husband had their photos on his phone, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankit Chauhan said.

“To retrieve and erase the images, she orchestrated the snatching,” he said.

She provided her husband’s daily route and work timings to the the two men. On June 19, they allegedly snatched the phone and fled, he added.

The DCP said a PCR call was received about a mobile snatching near Old UK Paint Factory, Main Market Road, Sultanpur.

“The complainant told police that two masked persons riding a scooter snatched his phone and fled,” the DCP said.

The pillion rider was spotted wearing a blue T-shirt, and an ANPR scan from Vasant Kunj helped identify the scooter’s registration number. It was found that the scooter had been rented from Daryaganj for a single day, the officer added.

Using rental documents and Aadhaar-linked data, the accused were traced to Balotra in Rajasthan’s Barmer district, he said.

After the crime, the duo checked into a hotel in Old Delhi to evade arrest, the DCP added.

The woman has been bound down in the case, while efforts are on to arrest another associate who is absconding, police said.

Kolkata: A controversy erupted in West Bengal after a history question paper at the state-run Vidyasagar University described Indian revolutionaries as “terrorists,” triggering strong political reactions and forcing the institute to issue a public apology, calling it a “printing mistake.”

Reacting to it, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew, Chandra Kumar Bose, told PTI Videos, “To call revolutionaries — who laid down their lives for the country’s freedom — as terrorists is an act of sacrilege and demanded strict action against those responsible for preparing the question paper.

The contentious reference appeared in question 12 of the sixth semester BA Honours history exam (in Bengali), which asked students to name three district magistrates of Midnapore “killed by terrorists” during British rule. The university later acknowledged the error, attributing it to a proofreading lapse.

“It was a printing mistake that went unnoticed during proofreading,” Vice Chancellor Dipak Kar said on Friday.

“Once the paper was circulated, there was no time to make corrections. I have asked the controller of examinations to submit a detailed report,” he added.

The three slain magistrates referred were James Peddie, Robert Douglas and Bernard Berge, who were gunned down in a span of three years for their tyranny in then Midnapore district.

Bose said, “Distortion of history of our freedom struggle has been happening for a long time. But to call Khudiram Bose and other revolutionaries, who sacrificed their lives for the country’s freedom, as terrorists cannot be accepted.”

He added that stringent action must be taken against the faculty and people who were in charge of drafting the question paper.

“History must be told in the right perspective and the younger generation must be made aware about the right picture of our freedom struggle. They should know the heroic battle of INA and the leadership of Netaji,” Bose commented in this context.

Academic Pabitra Sarkar condemned the error, saying, “It is unthinkable in independent India to refer to youths who fought British oppression as ‘terrorists”, a term used by the colonial rulers.”

Leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari in a post on X described the terrorist reference as “absolutely outrageous.”

“The administrative authorities of Vidyasagar University have once again insulted our revered freedom fighters by labeling the brave revolutionaries of Medinipur as ‘militants’ and ‘terrorists’ in the 2025 History Honours sixth semester question paper,” he said.

“This is not an isolated mistake but a deliberate distortion of our history, repeating the same disgraceful error from 2023 under the watch of Dr. Nirmal Kumar Mahato, Head of the History Department and a known TMC affiliate in WBCUPA (West Bengal College and University Professors Association); TMC’s political organisation comprising professors,” Adhikari added.

“Shockingly, no action has been taken against Dr. Mahato despite his repeated oversight failures. Worse still, his stature has risen, he was promoted to Joint Secretary of WBCUPA after the 2023 blunder. For the unversed; the tyrannical British District Magistrates; Burge (1933), Peddie (1931), and Douglas (1932) were targeted by Indian freedom fighters. Peddie was killed by Bimal Dasgupta and Jyotijiban Ghosh,” the BJP leader posted.

The BJP leader questioned whether the elevation of Mahato an endorsement of TMC’s belief that “our freedom fighters were militants and terrorists.”

“The Vice Chancellor’s refusal to act only deepens the suspicion of political protectionism. This is a blow to every Indian who honours our Independence struggle. I demand immediate accountability, the removal of Dr. Mahato, and a thorough investigation into this institutional failure. Will TMC clarify if they stand by this shameful narrative?,” he said.

Mahato could not be contacted for his comments, while university sources described Adhikari’s remarks as “unfortunate.”

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh distanced the party from the controversy, saying, “The questions were set by a few persons, not the education department. It needs to be investigated who approved the question paper.”

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty and Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also condemned the terminology, calling it “unthinkable and unimaginable in independent India” and held the TMC government accountable for allowing such a lapse under its watch.

Causing further embarrassment to the varsity, the BA Honours Political Science exam was cancelled on Friday after it was discovered that the question paper was “out of syllabus.” University authorities said fresh tests would be conducted next week.

Air India plane crashes moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport

New Delhi : Both switches feeding fuel to the two engines of Air India flight 171 were cut off followed by pilot confusion before the plane crashed in Ahmedabad, seconds after taking off, the first investigation report into the crash has revealed.

It said that one pilot asked why he had shut off the fuel, and the other responded he didn’t do it.

The crash on June 12 was the first fatal disaster involving a Boeing 787, killing a total of 260 people — all but one of the 242 people on board the aircraft died — when the plane ploughed into a medical college hostel.

The preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, released on Saturday, recommended no action for now for the operators of Boeing 787-8 planes.

At the time the aircraft took off, the co-pilot was flying the plane, while the captain was monitoring.

“The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec,” the report said.

As per the report, the engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off.

“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” it said.

The aircraft took off at 08:08:39 UTC (13:38:39 IST) and at about 08:09:05 UTC (13:39:05 IST) one of the pilots transmitted ‘MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY’.

“The ATCO (Air Traffic Controller) enquired about the call sign. ATCO did not get any response but observed the aircraft crashing outside the airport boundary and activated the emergency response,” the report said.

In the report of the fatal plane accident that happened in around 30 seconds after take off, AAIB also said fuel samples taken from bowsers and tanks used to refuel the aircraft were tested at the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) Lab and were found satisfactory.

The preliminary report was widely anticipated to throw more light on what could have led to the crash, which was one of the worst in India in decades, and also it was the first accident involving a Boeing 787 aircraft that resulted in hull loss.

The AAIB said the wreckage site activities, including drone photography/ videography have been completed and the wreckage has been moved to a secure area near the airport.

“Both engines were retrieved from the wreckage site and quarantined at a hangar in the airport. Components of interest for further examinations have been identified and quarantined,” it said.

According to the report, fuel samples taken from the bowsers and tanks used to refuel the aircraft were tested at the DGCA’s Lab and were found satisfactory.

“Very limited amount of fuel samples could be retrieved from the APU filter and Refuel/Jettison valve of left wing. The testing of these samples will be done at a suitable facility capable of carrying out the test with the limited available quantity,” it said.

The AAIB is gathering additional details based on initial leads and data downloaded from the forward Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder (EAFR) is being analysed.

“At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to B787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers,” the report said.

The plane that crashed was powered by GEnx-1B engines.

Statements of the witnesses and the surviving passenger have been obtained by the Investigators.

The complete analysis of post-mortem reports of the crew and the passengers is being undertaken to corroborate aeromedical findings with the engineering appreciation, the AAIB said.

The probe is continuing and the investigation team will review and examine additional evidence, records and information that is being sought from the stakeholders.

There were 230 passengers on board — 15 in the business class and 215, including two infants, in economy class.

The Pilot In Command (PIC) had more than 15,638 hours of flying experience while the first officer had over 3,403 hours of flying experience.

Air India on Saturday said it is working closely with regulators and other stakeholders, and will continue to cooperate with the authorities in the ongoing probe into the plane crash.

Boeing, in a statement, said it continues to support the investigation and Air India.

“We will defer to the AAIB to provide information about AI171, in adherence with the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization protocol known as Annex 13,” it added.