CBI Arrests Chennai DGCA Deputy Director, Air-Training Firm Director in ₹2.5 Lakh Bribery Case

The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a Deputy Director of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation posted in Chennai and the director of a private air-training firm in an alleged bribery case linked to aircraft airworthiness certification.

The accused have been identified as 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 now expected to seek transit remand of Garg 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 in return for extending an undue favour in the issue of airworthiness certification for aircraft operated by Ekvi Air Training Organisation. Based on those inputs, an FIR was filed, a raid followed, and both men were arrested after the alleged bribe was accepted.

The case relates to regulatory clearance for aircraft airworthiness, a key responsibility of the DGCA’s Airworthiness Directorate. Officials said the investigation is continuing to determine the role of others and to examine whether the alleged payment was part of a broader arrangement linked to 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, who was associated with a private aerospace firm, in a separate ₹2.5 lakh case involving approvals for the import of drones.

In that case, 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 separate: the October arrests concern a Chennai-posted Deputy Director and an air-training company, while the April arrests involved a headquarters Deputy Director General and approvals linked to drone imports.