The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday sent a letter to Air India (AI) to seek more information on the alleged financial irregularities carried out by a pilot, Atul Chandra. The senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has come under the ED scanner for probable foreign exchange violations. Atul Chandra, currently the DGCA chief flight operations inspector was a joint general manager at AI before he took up employment with the regulatory body. According to the sources, he drew salaries from the DGCA as well as Air India.

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ED probes Atul Chandra

According to the source, the Enforcement Directorate has asked for documents from Air India regarding financial transactions made by Chandra after a complaint was filed against him in June. Taking into consideration the complaint, the law enforcement agency,sent a letter to Air India, stating, "It is requested that if anything relevant to Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002, is observed, the same may kindly be communicated to this directorate."

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Air India to recover Chandra's salary

Speaking to ANI, the Air India official said that they have started the recovery of Chandra's salary and sought DGCA to release him as soon as possible. "The letter of ED has been in the knowledge of the Air India management. A committee has been formed to investigate the entire matter," the official said.

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Earlier, AI had written to DGCA asking them to relieve Chandra so that he could return to AI, where they had a departmental probe against him. The DGCA refused and have not yet released Chandra hampering the AI's inquiry on him. Reportedly the ED has found that Chandra drew a gross salary of Rs 2.8 crore, which after taxes stood at Rs 1.9 crore, from the AI in addition to the salary from the DGCA during the period. Following this, AI has asked him to pay back the salary and accordingly he has paid back just Rs 80 lakh.

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