Air Deccan's pilot, co-pilot held for breaching PM's security

Bilaspur, Dec 17 (UNI) An inadvertent breach of the Prime Minister's security by Air Deccan helicopter's pilot at Bilaspur landed him in lock up here today.

Pilot M S Sehgal landed at the helipad at Lohnu, near here, where PM Manmohan Singh's helicopter was waiting to fly him to Palampur for another public meeting.

The security forces allowed the helicopter to land and surrounded it.

On enquiry it was found that the pilot did not have permission of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) or the district administration to land there and he along with co-pilot K C Mehata were arrested for breaching the PM's security cordon.

A case under section 336 of IPC and section 11 of Aircraft Act, 1934 has been registered against them, Bilaspur district SP Balbir Thakur told UNI here.

The helicopter had gone to Bilaspur to pick up AICC general secretary R K Dhawan but it landed at the crucial time when the Prime minister was about to fly.

It was serious lapse on the part of the pilot and the helipad officer had informed the police that he had no information about landing of the private chopper.

Official sources said that the permission to land was granted by ATC and but no helicopter could be allowed to land at the helipad where the helicopter of the Prime Minister was waiting.

UNI