In this Saturday, June 14, 2025 file photo, wreckage of the crashed Air India plane, which crashed into a medical hostel and its canteen complex moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, being lifted through a crane, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi/Mumbai: A five-member team, headed by 56-year-old Sanjay Kumar Singh, is probing the fatal crash of the Air India aircraft last month in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people.
Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) Director Singh is the Investigator-in-Charge and Deputy Director Jasbir Singh Larhga is the Chief Investigator.
There are also three Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials in the investigation team -- Deputy Director Vipin Venu Varakoth, Assistant Director Veeraragavan K, and Air Safety Officer Vaishnav Vijayakumar.
On June 12, Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI 171 en route to London Gatwick crashed into a medical hostel complex soon after takeoff from Ahmedabad, killing 260 people, including 241 onboard the plane. One passenger survived the crash.
The AAIB late on Friday published its preliminary report on the fatal Air India plane crash.
In its 15-page report, 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.
Experienced pilots, engineers, aviation medicine specialists, aviation psychologists and flight recorder specialists have been taken on board as subject matter experts to assist in the investigation in the area of their domain expertise, according to AAIB.
Here is a brief profile of the investigators.
Sanjay Kumar Singh
A Director at AAIB, Singh has 15 years of experience in aircraft accident investigation and safety domain.
The 56-year-old Singh has been involved in management of investigation into 15 accidents/serious incidents, and processed classification of more than 300 occurrences reported. He has a bachelor's degree in (Mechanical Engineering) Aeronautical Engineering Specialisation, and an MBA degree.
He has more than two-and-a-half decades of experience in consulting, advisory and operation roles within Air Force machinery assets, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jasbir Singh Larhga
With AAIB for a decade, Larhga has been involved in various aircraft accident investigations, including the plane crash in Kozhikode in 2020. He has worked with DGCA as well as with Pawan Hans and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
At AAIB, and during his stint at the DGCA, he has been associated with several aircraft accident/serious incident probes, including the Kozhikode Air India Express aircraft accident in 2020, skidding off the erstwhile Jet Airways plane at Goa airport in 2016, and skidding off an Air India Express aircraft from Dubai at the taxiway at Mangalore Airport in 2019.
A former DGCA official said Larhga was an efficient and hard working person during his stint at the regulator.
Vipin Venu Varakoth
Varakoth is an Assistant Director of Air Safety at DGCA based in Mumbai for more than seven years. He had also served as Air Safety Officer for nearly seven years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Veeraragavan K
He is an Assistant Director of Air Safety at DGCA in Mumbai for nearly four years now. Prior to this role, he served as an Air Safety Officer in the national capital for nine years.
Veeraragavan has also worked as an analysis engineer with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for a little over a year in Chennai, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Vaishnav Vijayakumar
He is an Air Safety Officer at the DGCA and has been part of various aircraft accident/incident investigations.
AAIB Director General G V G Yugandhar appointed the five-member team to investigate the crash that happened on June 12.
The team comprises Sanjay Kumar Singh as Investigator-in-Charge, Jasbir Singh Larhga as Chief Investigator and Vipin Venu Varakoth, Veeraragavan K, and Vaishnav Vijayakumar as investigators, according to the AAIB preliminary report released on Saturday.