New Delhi, March 13
An Air India pilot has been arrested in the capital for allegedly using forged marksheets to procure a licence, the second pilot to be nabbed in the last four days, as a worried DGCA set in motion fresh scrutiny of licenses of nearly 4,000 pilots.Close on the heels of arrest of a suspended Indigo woman pilot, Delhi police apprehended Captain J K Verma here late last night following investigations into a complaint filed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which claimed that some of the pilots had faked marksheets to get their licence.

"We have arrested Verma. Investigations are on. We have been provided more names by the DGCA. The scanner is on two more pilots Meenakshi Sehgal of Indigo and Swaran Singh Talwar of the MDLR," a senior police official said. Verma is in his 40s.

In the wake of the fake pilot scare, licenses of 3,000 to 4,000 pilots are being scrutinised by the DGCA, according to Civil Aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi.

Verma allegedly forged marksheets of Pilot License Examination for obtaining the licence.

The official said Sehgal, a resident of North Delhi, and Talwar, a resident of Jaipur, were absconding.

Delhi Police's Crime Branch had on March 8 arrested Parminder Kaur Gulati (38), a suspended pilot of Indigo, for allegedly obtaining the mandatory Airlines Transport Pilot License (ALTP) using on forged documents.

"Commercial pilot licences are being scrutinised following this incident," Zaidi said following her arrest.

With the ALTP, one can become a co-pilot and to get a full fledged commercial pilot licence one should have the ATPL with adequate flying hours. Gulati was grounded on January 11 following an incident of hard landing of an Indigo flight in Goa.

During initial enquiry by DGCA, it was found that she had allegedly submitted forged result card of Pilot License Examination of January 2009 for obtaining the ALTP. On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered.