The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a Deputy Director of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) posted in Chennai and the director of a private air-training firm in an alleged bribery case of ₹2.5 lakh linked to aircraft airworthiness certification.
Those taken into custody are Sushil Kumar Garg, Deputy Director (Airworthiness), DGCA, Chennai, and Sachin Keshav Bhane, Director of Ekvi Air Training Organisation Pvt Ltd. The arrests were made in Tamil Nadu. The agency is expected to seek transit remand of the officer so that he can be brought to New Delhi for questioning.
According to officials, the CBI registered a case against Garg, Bhane, the company and others after receiving inputs that the officer had demanded illegal gratification. The allegation is that Garg sought and accepted ₹2.5 lakh for extending an undue favour in the issue of airworthiness certification for aircraft operated by Ekvi Air Training Organisation. An FIR was registered on the basis of those inputs, a raid followed, and both men were arrested after the alleged bribe was accepted.
The case concerns regulatory clearance of aircraft airworthiness, a core function of the DGCA’s Airworthiness Directorate. Officials said the investigation is continuing to establish the role of others and to examine whether the alleged payment formed part of a wider arrangement connected with aviation approvals.
This is the second DGCA-linked bribery case reported by the CBI this year. In April 2026, the agency arrested Mudavath Devula, then Deputy Director General in the Airworthiness Directorate at DGCA headquarters in New Delhi, and Bharat Mathur, associated with a private aerospace firm, in a separate ₹2.5 lakh case concerning approvals for the import of drones.
In that matter, the CBI said the alleged bribe was recovered in full, and searches at four locations in Delhi led to the seizure of ₹37 lakh in cash, gold and silver coins, and digital devices.
The two cases are distinct: the October arrests concern a Chennai-posted Deputy Director and an air-training company, while the April arrests concerned a headquarters Deputy Director General and drone-import approvals.
