Probe sought into missing World War II vintage aircraft

Pressure is mounting on the Government of Karnataka to unearth the mystery behind the “scandalous” disappearance of a World War II vintage aircraft from an engineering college campus in Gulbarga.

Former Minister and veteran politician S K Kantha, who suspected hanky panky in the disappearance of the German-made aircraft, has lodged a police complaint in the regard against the management of the PDA Engineering College, Gulbarga, for illegally selling the aircraft for a handsome price.

The aircraft, which had crashed in Gulbarga in 1945 during a flight from Madras to Bombay, had been preserved at the Municipal Garden in Gulbarga before being shifted to the engineering college as a teaching model to the students.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) to which the aircraft legally belongs has already staked a claim over it. Air Marshal T J Master, Headquarters Training Command, IAF, Bangalore, had written a letter to then Chief Minister of Karnataka S M Krishna, stating that the crashed and unclaimed aircraft is the property of Government of India and must find a pride of place in the Air Force Museum in Delhi.

Though the Government of Karnataka handed over the case to the Corps of Detective (CoD) more than two years ago, the slow progress in the case has irked the complainant Kantha, who has now urged Home Minister M P Prakash to order a CBI probe into the matter.