The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted a closure report in an alleged case of corruption during the tenure of Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) leader Praful Patel as Civil Aviation Minister in the UPA-II regime. The agency registered the case in May 2017 following a Supreme Court order.
The CBI filed the report before a designated special court, which is expected to take up the matter on April 15. About a month ago, the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) had announced that it was nominating Mr. Patel as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.
The case had been registered against unknown officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry, National Aviation Corporation of India Limited (NACIL), Air India and private companies. It alleged that a large number of aircraft were leased by Air India without a proper route study and marketing or price strategy. Also, they were leased even while an aircraft acquisition programme was under way.
