CBI to take over probe into YSR chopper crash

New Delhi, Sep 9 (PTI) The Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) Wednesday said it will take over Thursday the
investigations into the helicopter crash that killed former
chief minister of India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh Y S
Rajasekhara Reddy.

"The Andhra Pradesh government had made a specific request
in this regard," a CBI spokesman said.

A CBI team would visit the crash site in Nallamalla
forests where Reddy's chopper crashed and check the log
details of the Air Traffic Control in southern cities of
Hyderabad and Chennai.

The state government has also formed a two-member expert
committee comprising retired IPS officer and VIP Security
expert M R Reddy and former Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA) H S Khola to investigate the incident from all
angles and submit its report in 60 days.

Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who held a high-level meeting to
discuss the helicopter tragedy on August seven, had spoken to
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram and requested that a probe
by the CBI be ordered into the incident.

Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabita Reddy had said though
the case was being handed over to the CBI, the probe being
conducted by the State Crime Investigation department would
continue.

Defending the handing over of the case to the CBI, Reddy
had said that "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." PTI