New Delhi/Mumbai: A brand new Pawan Hans Sikorsky chopper with nine people on board crashed into the Arabian Sea, about 50 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast on Tuesday, killing four people, including three ONGC employees.
The helicopter, which was part of the six Sikorsky S-76D helicopters that Pawan Hans had recently leased from Milestone Aviation Group, was about 4-5 minutes away from its destination — ONGC's Sagar Kiran rig — when the incident took place, company officials with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The chopper went down around 1145 hrs, just 1 nautical mile away from Sagar Kiran, but managed to stay afloat with the help of the attached floaters, helping rescuers pull out all the nine, including two pilots, after ONGC and Navy/Coast Guard scrambled in one of the fastest rescue missions in the western offshore.
Four of the nine pulled out were unconscious and airlifted in a Navy chopper to a hospital in Mumbai, where they were declared dead, an official said.
Three of the dead are employees of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the state-owned firm which had hired helicopter service from Pawan Hans to support its oil and gas exploration and production operations in the western offshore.
The fourth person belongs to a contractor working for ONGC.
The circumstances that led to the incident were not immediately known but western offshore had inclement weather and there was a swell in the sea.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said it was ironic that the arrest was made on a day when India joined G7 countries to protect free speech, a sentiment shared by a group of activists who said it was "absolute hypocrisy" of the government.
Leaders of the powerful G7 grouping and its five partner countries, including India, have said they are committed to open public debate and the free flow of information online and offline while guarding the freedom, independence and diversity of civil society actors.
Zubair was produced before the court on the expiry of his one-day custodial interrogation.
The police submitted before the court that Zubair did not cooperate with the investigating agency and that his custodial interrogation was required to gather information regarding the device from which the tweet was made by him.
During the hearing, Zubair's counsel Vrinda Grover said the photo which the accused used in the tweets is of an old Hindi film from 1983 by Hrishikesh Mukherjee,
Kissi Se Na Kehna,
and that the movie was not banned.
"IFSO (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations), looking at cyber crime, would have professional of cyber cases which is better than mine. This image is from a film of Rishikesh Mukherjee… The video is available on the internet. In 1983 this film was made. This image is from the film. There is no editing that the accused or anyone else has done," Grover submitted.
She then explained the scene from which the still image was used. She told the court that in this scene, the actress had remarked on seeing the board outside a hotel that it is "not honeymoon hotel, this is Hanuman hotel".
"This image shown as a reason for arresting someone comes from a Hindi cinema image. This is an image of a Rishikesh Mukherjee film. Not a place of worship. This is a joke on the honeymooners. Where is the damage? Prima facie where is the case? Yes I am a journalist, have a Twitter following and speak my mind in an independent country. See the anonymous Twitter handle. That opens only in 2021. He says this is offensive to Hindus. The entire case borders on absurdity." The court, however, rejected the submission saying it was of no assistance to the accused at this stage.
"Considering that mobile phone/laptop of accused used by him for posting the tweet in question is to be recovered at the instance of accused Mohammed Zubair from his Bangalore residence and that accused has remained non-cooperative and the disclosure statement on record, four days PC (police custody) remand of accused is granted since accused is to be taken to Bangalore," the judge said in a 3-page order.
The judge then directed that Zubair be produced before the court on July 2. Police had sought an extension of Zubair's custody by five days.
Grover opposed the police plea alleging that it had called Zubair for questioning in some other case but he was arrested in the present case in haste. She said the tweet in question was published by Zubair in 2018.
"Someone recently tweeted Zubair's tweet of 2018, and the present case was filed. The anonymous Twitter handle had its very first tweet, which cited Zubair's tweet, which has been picked up by police. The agency is playing mischief," the counsel said.
"In any case, the Twitter handle using Zubair's tweet is not the spokesperson of all the Hanuman devotees," she added.
"They're claiming that I edited the photo in question. The tweet is present there since 2018. Since 2018 that tweet has not created a flutter. Multiple Twitter users had shared the picture. Prima facie there is no case."
Grover added: "Police is trying to create media hype, media frenzy. Police are abusing their power. They wanted my (Zubair's) laptop because I am a journalist and there is various sensitive information in it. They want a fishing enquiry."
KPS Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations), said that a four-member police team will be sent to Bengaluru on Wednesday to Zubair's house as part of investigations to recover the evidence, including the mobile phone or laptop used by him for posting the tweet in question.
The Delhi Police added that his "objectionable tweet of 2018 led to a Twitter storm with hate speeches, detrimental to communal harmony".
"In such cases, finding the gadget used to post such tweets and the intention behind posting such a tweet is important. During questioning, he has been evasive on both the fronts.
"We found out that his phone was formatted. His evasiveness formed the grounds for his arrest," Malhotra said.
The police officer said a four-member police team will be sent to Zubair's house in Bengaluru on Wednesday to recover evidence, including the mobile phone or laptop used by him for posting the tweet in question.
The mobile phone that he is currently using is formatted and does not have information related to the case that is being investigated. However, the phone will be sent to the forensic lab for examination, the officer said.
During investigation, when asked about his phone through which he posted the alleged tweet in 2018, he told police that he had lost it.
"He joined the probe but did not cooperate and various materials from his phone was deleted," he added.
Asked about the objectional tweet, Zubair told the investigators that he did post the tweet but did not specify any reason for doing so, the officer said.
The BJP lashed out at Opposition parties, especially the Congress, for protesting against the arrest of Zubair and activist Teesta Setalvad alleging that they were working as part of a "poisonous ecosystem" where one offender protects another if anyone is caught.
The Congress hit back at the BJP, alleging that the "coward" government is sending out a message to those who expose its "fake news".
Left parties also joined the Editors Guild of India, the Press Club of India and the Mumbai Press Club in demanding the immediate release of Zubair.
The Left-affiliated All India Students' Association (AISA) staged a protest in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) against the arrest and raised slogans against the government.
In a statement, Aakar Patel, chair of board for Amnesty International India, said the Indian authorities are targeting Zubair for his "crucial work" to combat the rise in fake news and disinformation and call out discrimination against minorities.
19 dead